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Class _S531_ 

Book_ ^_a_ 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



SOILS 



Their Properties, Improvement, 
Management, and the Problems of 
Crop Growing and Crop Feeding 



By 

CHARLES WILLIAM BURKETT 

Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, 
Kansas State Agricultural College 



Where grows ? — Where grows it not ? If vain our toil. 
We ought to blame the culture, not the soil. 

Pope. 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 

LONDON 
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Limited 

1907 



LtSRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooles Received 

SEP 6 I90r 

.CooyricW Bntry 

CLASS 'A XXc, N6. 

COPY B. 






CorYRIGHT, 1907, BY 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 
All Rights Reserved 



[entered at stationers' hall, LONDON, ENGLAND] 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The author is under obligations to many friends for helpful 
suggestions and illustrations. Especial credit is due the following 
for illustrations used on the pages indicated : Professor E. O. Pippin, 
of Cornell University, 29, 31, 34, 36, 65, 91, 94, 113, 173, 174, 192. 
195, 198, 204, 218, 236, 266, 280, 283, etc. ; Professor A. M. Ten Eyck, 
of the Kansas Experiment Station, 2, 13, 20, 47, 197, 270; Professor 
Oscar Erf, of Kansas Experiment Station, 207, 209, 211, 259; 
Professor Charles E. Thorne, Director of the Ohio Experiment 
Station, 100, 105 ; Dr. C. G. Hopkins, of the Illinois Experiment 
Station, 268; George K. Helder, 177, 178, 180, 182, 183, 194, 202. 
Thanks are also due the Orange Judd Company for many photo- 
graphs and B. F. Williamson for the line drawings. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction i 

I. The Soil Makers 7 

II. The Soils that Living Things Have Made ... 17 

III. What We Find in Soils 2^ 

IV. Concerning the Texture of the Soil 34 

V. How Plants Feed 44 

VI. The Elements that Plants Use 52 

VII. How Plant Food is Preserved 62 

VIII. Getting Acquainted with Plant Food 71 

IX. The Potential Plant Food : Its Stores and Nature 79 

X. The Role that Tillage Plays 88 

XL Liming the Land : A Corrective for Acidity . . 90 

XII. The Quest of Nitrogen 108 

XIII. The Release of Soil Nitrogen: The Return to the Air 117 

XIV. Nitrification : Nitrogen Made Ready for Plants . . 124 
XV. Reclaiming Lost Nitrogen : the Call to the Air . . 132 

XVI. Soil Inoculation : How Done 143 

XVII. Draining the Land 152 

XVIII. Soil Water: How it is Lost; how it May be Held 164 

XIX. Dry Farming: A Problem in Water Conservation 176 

XX. Tillage Tools : What They are for ; how to Use Them 185 

XXI. The Cultivation of Crops: The Tools and Purposes 197 

XXII. Stable Manure : Its Composition and its Preservation 206 

XXIII. Handling Manure on the Farm 216 

XXIV. Buying Plant Food for the Soil 227 

XXV. Using Chemical Manure Intelligently 238 

XXVI. Mixing Fertilizers at Home 246 

XXVII. Dairying: .A.n Example in Soil Building .... 255 

XXVIII. Rotation of Crops 266 

XXIX. The Old, Worn-out Soils : What we May do for Them 282 

XXX. Conclusion : A Bit of Philosophy 291 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Only the Roots Remain Behind 2 

A Bit of Earth's Clothing 5 

Gradually Changing from Rock to Soil 8 

Cover Crop for the Orchard I2 

A Field of Corn Carried Away by a Raging Flood .... 13 

Just after a Flood 15 

Soil Builders at Work 18 

Alfalfa Roots Go Deep into the Soil 20 

A Crop that is Hard on the Soil 24 

Section of Soil Showing Air Spaces and Particles .... 26 

On Two Types of Soil 2Q 

Crop Adaptation 31 

A Case of Bad Texture 34 

Taking Soil Samples 36 

The Pore-space of the Soil 2>7 

A Soil that Needs Humus 39 

Circulation of Water in the Soil 40 

Vegetable Matter Aids the Soil in Holding Water .... 42 

Trees in the Prairie Region 43 

How Plant Food Gets into the Soil 44 

The Underside of a Leaf with a jNIicroscope 46 

Oats 47 

Cross-section of Root Hair 48 

Root Hairs 48 

How the Sap Current Moves 49 

The Greater Part of this Wonderful Crop Comes from the Air 55 

Getting Humus into the Soil 59 

Cotton Plant Above and Below the Ground 62 

A Root Hair with Soil Attached 64 

Making Plant Food Available 65 

At Work in the Corn-field 67 

Getting Ready for Cotton 68 

Poor Grass, Poor Cattle 7Z 



Vlll ILLUSTRATIONS 

Corn Growing in Surface and Subsoil 76 

A Crop that Calls for Much Nitrogen 79 

A Crop that Gets Nitrogen from the Air 82 

A Sure Way to Improve the Soil 84 

Increasing the Nitrogen with Legumes 86 

Alfalfa Roots : Vegetable Tillage Tools 89 

A Good Job of Plowing 91 

Plowed for the First Time 93 

Effect of Plowing Wet Land 94 

Limed and Unlimed Land 100 

Using the Lime Spreader 105 

A Magnificent Crop of Beans 113 

Two Kinds of Bacteria Found in Decaying Vegetable Matter . 120 

Bacteria Usually Found in Decaying Organic Matter . . . 121 

Some Bacteria that Cause the Fermentation of Urine . . . 123 

Nitrifying Bacteria 127 

Losing Nitrogen and Humus 132 

Root Tubercle Bacteria 139 

Back of Good Tillage is the Well-bred Farm Horse . . . 142 

Some Legume Roots Showing Root Tubercles 145 

Growing Bacteria in the Laboratory 149 

Alfalfa: the Best All-round Crop in America 150 

Red Clover Roots i53 

Soil Temperature i55 

A Way to Help the Drainage 156 

Losing Soils by Heavy Rains 158 

The Result when Water was Secured and Held 164 

Efifect of Cultivation of Corn Crop 165 

Cultivation Checks Evaporation 166 

A Home-made Roller 169 

Disking the Ground before Plowing 171 

A Stone Mulch i73 

A Good Mulch I74 

Kaffir Corn I77 

Corn Planted with Disk Furrow-opener Attached .... 178 

Double Disking the Land 180 

"Out There in Kansas" 181 

Sub-surface Packing 182 

Dry Land Farming 183 

Ideal Plowing 186 

Furrow Slices that are too Flat 186 



ILLUSTRATIONS IX 

Plowing Levees for Rice i88 

Everything is Done at One Operation 190 

Where Rolling Does Little Good 192 

The Acme Harrow 194 

A Step in Soil Preparation 195 

Corn Roots 197 

Cultivating the Orchard 198 

The Gentle Art of Cultivation 200 

Catalpa Tree with One Season's Growth 202 

Losing Water from Soil 204 

The Erf Stabling System 207 

Losing Fertility 209 

A Covered Barnyard 211 

Letting the Manure Get Away 216 

A Common Way but Poor Practice 218 

Hauling Manure to the Field 220 

Manure Spreader at Work 221 

Crimson Clover in the South 224 

Cow-peas and Fertilizers and a Poor Soil 227 

A Case where All Three Elements Are Needed 228 

Our Common Fertilizing Materials 230 

Where Acid Phosphate Pays 233 

A Muck Soil that Profitably Uses Potassium 236 

Plant Food in a Bag of Fertilizer 241 

The Bag and the Plant Food in It 243 

Fertilizers Pay Best when Good Plowing Has Been Done . . 247 

The Soil that Tells Its Own Story 251 

Where Alfalfa Prospers Dairying Prospers 256 

Complete Irrigating System with Dairy House and Residence 

Attached 259 

A Balance Wheel in Farming 260 

Two Kinds of Farming 262 

Relative Amounts of Plant Food when a Ton of Each is Sold 263 

Crop Rotation 266 

Corn in Growing Stage 267 

Corn at Harvest Time 268 

Cow-pea Roots 270 

Crop of Corn and Cow-peas the Same Year 272 

Close Rotation of Crops 278 

Crop Rotation and Mixed Farming Go Hand in Hand . . . 277 

Timothy May Go in Rotation 280 



X ILLUSTRATIONS 

In Perfect Condition 283 

What Humus Does in the Soil 285 

Grow Legumes Constantly 288 

One Kind of Farming that Improves the Land 291 

A Sure Way to Ruin the Farm 293 

Seven of Our Leading Products 295 

Intensive Farming 296 

A Department of the Farm Factory 298 

"Thro' Wood and Mead" 299 



THE PLOW 

By V. F. BoYSON 
[By courtesy Everybody's Maga::inc.] 

I am a worker. 

Sleep on and take your rest 

Though my sharp coulter shows white in the dawn: 

Beating through wind and rain, 

Furrowing hill and plain 

Till twilight dims the west 

And I stand darkly against the night sky. 

I am a worker, I, the plow. 

I feed the peoples. 

Eagerly wait on me 

High-born and low-born, pale children of want: 

Kingdoms may rise and wane, 

War claim her tithe of slain, 

Hands are outstretched to me. 

Master of men am I, seeming a slave, 

I feed the peoples, I, the plow. 

I prove God's word true — 

Toiling that earth may give 

Fruit men shall gather with songs in the sun. 

Where sleeps the hidden grain 

Corn-fields shall wave again; 

Showing that while inen live 

Nor seed nor harvest time ever will cease. 

I prove God's words true, I, the plow. 



INTRODUCTION 



THE EARTH'S CLOTHING 

It has been calculated that if the earth were tunneled 
direct to the other side, 7,918 miles would be traveled in 
making the journey. But a difficulty would be met in 
this endeavor : After going a few miles, the heat would 
be so intense that further progress would be impossible. 
For as we descend into the earth, after going a very little 
way, the temperature rises at the rate of i degree for 
every 50 feet, a rate that is universal over the earth's 
surface, and for the greatest depth attained. 

From the known laws of the conduction of heat the 
conclusion follows that at a depth of 15 to 20 miles below 
the surface the earth is red hot, while the heat 100 miles 
deeper, if applied at the surface, would liquefy all mate- 
rials at the surface crust. These known facts have led 
to an hypothesis that the interior of the earth is more or 
less fluid, and that the crust is only a thin shell floating 
on the molten globe. 

However, the earth as a body is very rigid and sub- 
jected to a pressure so great that despite the high tem- 
perature, the interior is locked into a solid mass as rigid 
as steel itself. 

But after all, we are coiicerned less with the interior 
of the earth and with the surface more. Our aim is to 
know the outer covering — the clothing that encloses this 
hidden interior — and to use its history to our profit and 
good. Every science has lajjored with the secret that 
is hidden in this clothing of the earth that the world 
might know some of the stories it has to tell : of the 



2 INTRODUCTION 

strange forms of vegetation that once visited here ; of 
the bizarre creatures that peopled it in old days — before 
man came and before the myriads of present-day friends 
and foes had sprung into existence ; of the monsters that 
throve and multiplied and brought fear and death to 
weaker kind ; of the hideous reptiles that crawled over 
the slimy domain, battling with each other or with the 




ONLY THE ROOTS REMAIN BEHIND 
This picture is an example of the power of water in soil making 



denizens of the forest; of primitive man — weak, dull, 
savage, and yet endowed with more cunning of brain — 
fulfilling his mission and preparing the way for better 
and higher tribes ; of all the agencies that have been at 
work in the making of the garment that covers this great 
body ; of the soil, the real covering, and all it means : 
these many stories have been told in rock and stone and 



INTRODUCTION 3 

in slowly perishable materials, and so clearly told that 
man reads and reflects and profits in the lessons that are 
learned. And of some of these we want to learn in the 
pa,2^es that follow. 

The soil: the clothing of the earth. — The real cloth- 
ing" of the earth is the soil — and we are to study it: the 
good, kind soil that brings us so many useful and beau- 
tiful and wholesome things. For with the soil is the real 
beginning of all material things, of all things of worth ; 
of all things that secure contentment ; of all things that 
lead to comfort and happiness ; of all things that have to 
do with food and raiment and shelter; of all things that 
advance mankind and promote civilization. All of these 
things spring from the soil — from the simple, inanimate, 
material thing we call dirt. 

The earth's clothing includes the soil in all its varia- 
tions ; includes the dirt in which plants root and feed 
and grow ; includes the rock and stony structures of sea 
and mountain ; includes the waters of the soil and of the 
deep; includes the minerals in the mines that man seeks, 
often losing his life in the search ; includes the insect, 
the worm, the bacterium, and every form of life that 
labors for its usefulness and grandeur ; includes the 
fruits of field and soil — the life that grows therein and 
makes food for man and beast; includes the tree that 
grows and fructifies in forest or orchard ; includes the 
cultivated crop of every variety and species, of every 
form and description ; includes every vegetable type that 
provides raiment, or covering in the open, or when re- 
moved from its place of growth, becomes house and 
shelter that protects and guards and comforts; includes 
everything that has use and that supplies a want in every 
part of the world and for every purpose. All these 
things come from the soil, from the magnificent garment 



4 INTRODUCTION 

that clothes the earth. "Before Hterature existed, before 
governments were known, agriculture was the calling of 
man. And all the fruits of social progress since then 
grew from the brown soil." 

The soil changes its clothing. — The clothing of the 
earth is a changing one. It is of as many colors as the 
coat of Joseph. And this clothing changes not in color 
only, but in texture, in wearing ability, in usefulness. 
For are there not many soils that had poverty as their 
inheritance and still others that had only the fullest 
riches? Yet both kinds meet at a common point so 
often — the rich have become poor, the poor have become 
rich. 

All over our land this change is observed. To man's 
credit, however, we are now at a point in farming where 
this may be corrected, for we realize that the soil is 
capable of change and of improvement : it offers a great 
opportunity for thought and study. Applied here, knowl- 
edge brings abundant returns. 

The soil and the subsoil. — There are two layers of this 
clothing : the soil and the subsoil, and of course we must 
give due weight to both with any discussion of crop pro- 
duction or in any method of land management. In both 
soil and subsoil are found organic and inorganic mate- 
rials, although the subsoil contains a greater portion of 
the latter substances than the soil immediately over it. 

It is in both of these layers that the roots of plants grow, 
and now that we know more about roots than we did a 
few years ago, we ought to be able to handle lands with 
greater certainty and to grow crops with more profit. We 
know where roots grow ; we know the places in which 
they feed and just how they do their work. Is this not a 
practical turn? Roots grow from their tips, and at these 
points they gather food and drink. With the passing of 



INTRODUCTION 5 

a little time the tip end is sent further on in the search; 
it grows longer ; it finds a new place to take nourishment. 

The roots grow on and on and new root hairs form, 
taking their nutriment from the new and fresh pastures. 
So all about in the soil they go, just below the surface, 
a little deeper in the soil top; even in the subsoil (if they 
can enter it), and all the while they search and seek for 
plant food that the great body above may be supplied. 

Fertility is more than soil. — And we should bear in 
mind that fertility is more than a mere abundance of 
plant food in the soil (we have learned more about the 
soil). Fertility is plant food, of course, but in part, only. 
It is water — just the right amount and served when 
needed. It is climate — neither too cold nor too hot for 
the particular plant. It is texture — soil grains of proper 
size and in ])roper relation to control heat, moisture, and 
air. It is humus — a goodly amount to supply nitrogen 
as required, and to help in makmg pleasant and comfort- 
able the home of the roots. It is tillage — the real, true 
sort of tillage that provides tilth and mellowness. It is 




A BIT OF THE KAKTIl's Cl.UTHlNti 



6 INTRODUCTION 

the plant — the right kind for the particular soil. Fer- 
tility is these and all other requirements that secure a 
soil environment to the liking" of the growing plant. 
Hence, the plant food of the soil is an incident, but a 
necessary incident, just as heat and air and water and 
tillage and texture are incidents and prerequisites of high 
production. 



SOILS 

CHAPTER I 

THE SOIL MAKERS 

Do not think, gentle reader, that I am going to weary 
you with a long discussion about the history of the 
ground. The only misgivings the author has had in the 
preparation of this volume has been the necessity of say- 
ing these few words that follow about the soil makers, 
the agencies that have been at work making the soil. 
Important? Yes, in a way; but if you see the matter 
as I do, you are more interested in having the soil dem- 
onstrate what it can do now, rather than to inquire into its 
line of descent; to be familiar with its ability to do work 
and to perform to-day, rather than to know its ancestral 
life of long years ago. 

First effort in soil making. — To find the first eflfort 
in soil making we shall have to go back to a time far into 
the past ; back before man had appeared ; farther back 
yet than the time when plants had begun their existence. 
For is it not true that plants must have raiment for their 
roots — earth in which they may grow and out of which 
they may get food and drink? 

We shall have to go back — very far back in the past — 
when the surface was cooling and forming its crust, 
when the entire surface of the earth was rock — no ani- 
mals, no cultivated crops, no trees, no grass — not even 
the tiniest form of bug or i)lant or beast. 

For at this time the earth was void and without form, 



8 



SOILS 



although surrounded by an atmosphere of mist and vapor. 
When this rocky and molten mass of earth began to cool, 
its crust became broken and uneven. But no soil was 
there, only hard, fire-burned rock. Then centuries 
passed — thousands and thousands of them. The molten 
mass had cooled. The darkness that was on the face of 
the deep gave way to light and change. For the light 
came from the sun and these rays the rocks absorbed. 
They felt the refining influence, also, of the air as it 
played over the wrinkled faces of rock and clifT. At first 
these two agencies made but little, if any, impression. 
So hard was the rock, what might air and sunshine do? 




GkAULJAl.LY CHANGING FROM ROCK TU SUlL 



But busy bodies, that are at work always and ever, gradu- 
ally gain their ends, and so these first rocks, now cold, 
now warm but yet so hard and strong — and so brutal — 
slowly gave up their determined tenacity and lost some 
of their strength and hidden power. A little softening, 
and they were changed, just as the refining influence 
of good air and much sunshine refines the plant or beast 
or man that comes under their spell and change. 



TlIK SOIL MAKERS 9 

How the atmosphere assists. — Just as soon as the first 
rocks were exposed to the weather, remarkable chang-cs 
then resulted. The rocks, after long exposure, crumbled 
somewhat; just a few particles, a few tiny grains from 
time to time fell apart from the whole and dropped to a 
lower level to be carried away by water ; or they were 
picked up and carried away by the wind when it rose 
in sufficient force to defy the mighty giants of rock forma- 
tion. Of course the wind accomplished but little with 
each attack. But the wind is ever young; it never grows 
old, and a thousand years of trial weaken it not. These 
tiny particles — the first released from rock — represent the 
beginnings in soil making. And ever since the time, 
who shall say how long.'' that these first particles were 
given to the wind, the weather has been at work making 
soil. 

The atmosphere assists in soil making because of the 
chemical action of the gases that compose the air and of 
the moisture or vapor it holds. The two important gases 
that are so powerful in making soil are oxygen and car- 
bonic acid. They are always at work ; they have been at 
work from the very beginning of time ; and so long as 
life exists, from the tiniest plant up to the finest devel- 
oped type of man, oxygen will be required for the work 
of the world. 

Oxygen forms oxides by combining with nearly all 
sorts of materials that are found in the earth. You know 
how quickly iron rusts when exposed to the air, especially 
if moist — an oxide of iron has resulted ; not that the iron 
has been destroyed nor the oxygen of the air that com- 
bined with it, but the two have united and formed a new 
chemical compound, powdery in texture and now in a 
form to be easily combined with acid so as to become 
food which plants may use. 



10 SOILS 

The carbonic acid of the air serves its part, also, but in 
another way. It works with water and in this manner: 
the two substances — carbonic acid and water — readily 
commingle and produce a liquid that is strong as a sol- 
vent, effective as a dissolving agent, so as to weaken the 
rocks, and active as a selective power which seeks the 
soft minerals of earthy formations and quarries them 
for plant builders to use. 

Oxygen and carbonic acid work whether man would 
have them or not ; they ask not his permit when they 
shall work nor where ; and neither do they ask on what 
materials they shall satisfy their desires. They work for 
Nature and to her they belong, and in this case they re- 
fuse to bow or to conform to man's wishes. 

But air and water are usually most effective as soil 
makers when they are working together, for they accom- 
plish more and do it more quickly. You have seen per- 
haps some iron tool that for years has remained in the 
bottom of a well, the water having made no perceptible 
headway against it. Because no air was there, rust did 
not result. And again, you have seen another iron tool 
kept in an atmosphere that was dry. You note no per- 
ceptible disintegration because moisture is highly essen- 
tial for iron to change into its own powdery dust. 

In dry climates rocks last longer than in moist climates 
for the reasons explained in reference to the dissolving 
action of air, carbonic acid, and moisture. 

Changes in temperature play a part. — In the early 
days the earth had a larger garment to clothe it than it 
now possesses. It was very hot — a boiling mass, at first. 
As time went on, the outer crust became cool, and at the 
same time this crust hardened and became fixed in char- 
acter, but only temporarily ; only long enough for the 
cooled crust to deepen its thickness, when the entire body 



THE SOIL MAKERS II 

must contract ; because, you know all matter expands 
when heated and becomes smaller when cooled. With 
the cooling of the earth its outer clothing was drawn in, 
with the result that it was wrinkled — hills here and high 
mountains there — which continued so long as the con- 
tractive force was greater than the holding force of the 
crust. In all this work changes were taking place. Huge 
beds of rock were thrown up and exposed in an hundred 
places to air and moisture, where before they were so 
snugly covered that neither could enter. 

The earth continued to cool and in some places ice 
formed. Vapor condensed and dropped as rain. For cen- 
turies rain had fallen, but as it struck the hard earth it was 
flung back into the air again as vapor and mist. As the 
earth gradually cooled, water was thrown back with less 
vengeance and force. Some of it was left for a consider- 
able time on the earth, where it had collected in basins, or 
in crevices in the rock. It was caught here at times by 
wind-storms that were cold enough to freeze this gathered 
water. As the water froze, it expanded, forcing many 
crevices wider, breaking many rocks asunder — and doing 
what we are pleased to call its share in soil making. 

It is this change in temperature that assists in soil 
making — that weakens the original rocks that were ages 
ago forced from the very bowels of the earth. 

Rocks such as the granite type — when alternately heated 
and cooled for a long time — gradually weaken and break. 
Sudden changes in temperature produce similar results. 
Temperature is more active when moisture is present. 
Even in the modern world we see stone buildings, that 
frequently drop a corner or a slab, due to sudden freezing 
when saturated with water. You recall with what ease 
the same may be done with a hammer on a cold day. 

Since nearly all rocks, even those deeply imbedded in 



12 SOILS 

the soil, contain not a small amount of water, cold be- 
comes a most potent as well as a most active agent in 
breaking and pulverizing them and in preparing them for 
the soil itself. 

Water wears away the rock. — But water is a soil 
maker in another way than as a solvent. By simple fric- 
tion it wears the hardest rock and makes for itself a track 
in which it may flow with greater ease. This action of 
the water has been so constant, and so regular, through 
so many summers and winters, and at work for so many, 
many centuries, that it has widened and deepened its 



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COVER CROP FUR THK ORCHARD 
Oats are used here, and do good service for protection against water and wind 

channels in all parts of the earth so that millions and 
millions of tons of solid rock have been washed from 
higher to lower levels, the dissolved part being left in 
lower regions or carried out into the sea, where the ac- 
cumulations for centuries have made new lands, some of 
which are now and for long times have been used for the 
growing of many of the necessities of man. 

Every time you see moving water in a stream, you see 
a soil maker at work. With even a light shower the water 
deepens its color, since the stream, the road and the field 



THE SOIL MAKERS 



13 



give up their finest dust, and send real soil downward to a 
lower level. It is beyond our power to estimate the enor- 
mous quantity of soil that is moved during a single year. 
A single illustration will show how great this quantity is: 
The Mississippi River as it pours into the Gulf of Mexico 
each year deposits soil sufficient in quantity to cover an 
area of 100 square miles nearly three feet in depth. Add 
to this the outpourings of all river systems and you have 
land areas made each year that equal many a state in size. 
Whenever a river outflows its banks it leaves deposited 
on the submerged territory tons and tons of mud — and 
this mud is valuable soil — often as much as an inch in 
thickness. 

In all mountainous regions we have the results of the 
wearing power of water. Huge caiions, hundreds of feet 
deep — the Colorado Canon is 2,000 feet in depth — mark 
the track of the leaps and pourings of water from the 
mountain summits. When considered in the aggregate, 
the amount of soil made by water-washing of our thou- 




A FIELD ui- COKX ( ARKIED AWAY EV A KA(,I.\r. FLOOD 



14 SOILS 

sands of hills and mountains is large. Here we see a 
mighty force and a powerful agent at work in soil making. 

The sorting power of water. — In this connection we 
should not forget the work of water as it moves silt, clay, 
pebbles, and stone that have been caught in its channels 
and then moved downward toward its emptyings. Silt 
and clay are readily held in suspension even if the water 
is slow going. It requires rapid currents to move the 
heavier, coarser stones and pebbles. As these are carried 
along, their rough edges are worn off, their sides are 
scraped and scratched, and many particles are pulverized 
and ground — all contributing to soil making. To be sure, 
this soil will be deposited in lower regions, yet it is now 
soil, the same as that in the cultivated field or garden. 

The role that ice has played. — In the northern part of 
the United States we have a class of soils formed by giant 
masses of ice called glaciers, that moved in a southward 
course many, many centuries ago. Our ideas of the cause 
of this vast body of moving ice are not clear and we have 
only the evidence that once it was so. We are told that all 
the northern part of our country was covered with a 
frozen mass of ice and snow, and that for some reason this 
whole mass assumed a moving character, creeping over 
plain and stream, attacking every hill top and mountain 
range, and without further ado, concjuering them as if 
play mounds made by children's hands were the confront- 
ing power. 

As this huge mass moved onward in its course it 
gathered up huge rocks that once were free, quarried 
other giants from the bosoms of the mountains, and 
played with them as it went along — rolling them, forcing 
them together, dragging them, rubbing their rough faces 
until they were smooth (if perchance they were not com- 
pletely ground into powder) — until finally the rays of the 



THE SOIL MAKERS 



15 



more southern sun robbed the glacier of its power by 
melting- snow and ice, which freed, rushed on into river 
channels to be lost at last in the seas of the East and the 
South. 

Soils that were formed by this moving mass of ice are 
known as drift soils. Such soils vary greatly in composi- 
tion and in physical nature. The area formed by these 
glacier or drift soils is altogether lacking in uniformity, 
its surface is broken often abrupt, its elevation is some- 
times considerable, often but slight and its producing 
power is modified by the nature of the deposits. While 
it is true that these soils are fairly well supplied with 
necessary mineral constituents essential to plant growth 




JUST AFTER A FLOOD 



they are often deficient in organic matter — the source of 
nitrogen supply. 

Wind made soils. — While the wind is often most vigor- 
ous in its activity, it is a reasonably slow agent in soil 
making, when considered by its daily work ; it must be 
studied only in its aggregate in respect to all the geolog- 



1 6 SOILS 

ical ages past. You will find the wind most actively at 
work in arid regions and in those sections where sand 
and dust most abound. 

A single experience in a wind storm must convince you 
of the power as well as of the quantity of earth that is 
moved throughout the world. Dust or particles of the 
earth are in the air at all times, and with every drop of 
rain, every flake of snow, and every movement in the air 
these particles are carried elsewhere than to the spot at 
which they were originally gathered up. You will find in 
some sections of our country huge mounds or drifts of 
sand that have been deposited by the constant and more 
vigorous action of the wind. 



CHAPTER II 

THE SOILS THAT LIVING THINGS HAVE MADE 

No one knows just when the first, plant came into the 
world, nor the kind : it was too far back in the dim ages 
of the past ; long before any history was ever written ; 
long even before man or bird or beast had yet appeared. 
We may be sure, however, that it was a very tiny plant, 
so small that the little roots did not need to go deep into 
the earth, for the soil was just beginning its growth. We 
may be safe even in saying that these early forms of 
plants had only the rock itself for their homes, and on 
this rock they established themselves, sending their small 
roots just the tiniest bit into the crevices and into the 
opened particles that had been loosed by air and water, 
by heat and cold. 

The beginning of plant growth. — But doubtless the 
earliest forms of plant life were aquatic in character: they 
lived in the water. Wc have learned of the solvent power 
of water. Many of the early stagnant pools became de- 
positories of water holding in solution the dissolved min- 
eral materials of the kinfl forming the rock structures. 
This was just the sort of food that these pioneer plants 
fancied, for they and all of their kind since have secured 
their feeding materials in this manner. As years and cen- 
turies passed, these beginning forms of plant life became 
stronger, more steady and some became quite venture- 
some, clinging to the rocks that held fast the waters of 
the pool ; and still others, flinging the experience of their 
parental tribes to the winds, ascended beyond the limits 



i8 



SOILS 



of the pond, where flowing water was uncommon, there 
to become adjusted to their new homes and to their new 
environment — at last to be stationary in their rules of 
living. 

It is likely the first stationary forms found lodgment in 
the crevices of the rock, where perhaps had accumulated 
small quantities of soil that had been made long before 
by air and water working in unison. These plants, no 
doubt, set their fibrous roots firmly against the rock sur- 
faces and worked in their own way in securing the 
coveted elements locked in the storehouse of the rocks. 

Just as the ivy of to-day creeps over stone and brick, so 
did these first forms secure their food substances for their 
life and growth. But with this difiference : those were 
small, insignificant plants and of low order; the ivy has 
culture, good breeding and pedigree as its inheritance. 

Real soil was made and left. — You must not think 




SOIL BUILDERS AT WORK 
Leaves, roots stems and grass find their way back to the soil and enrich it 



THE SOILS THAT LIVING THINGS HAVE MADE I9 

these pioneer plants lived forever. They grew old in 
time : they died. But at their death they left a valuable 
contribution to the world. They left the riches they had 
accumulated : the elements they had secured from the 
rocks, the substances of their growth, the wee beds of 
soil they had secured from their forefathers, from the 
donations of the wind, and from the gifts of air and 
moisture. 

With this wealth available, there was no longer so 
great a struggle. The decayed plant life in the crevices 
and the deteriorated rock afiforded better feeding grounds 
for plants, more soil for support, more food for the needs 
of maintenance and of growth. Consequently, this better- 
ing of material necessities afforded increased opportuni- 
ties for growth. A higher order of plants might now 
come. So the small struggling plants, through a long 
course of years, changed, now gradually, now suddenly, 
into stronger varieties and species — onward and upward 
in the scale, until the time when soil was present in 
abundance, when the higher plants, useful for food and 
raiment, might be secure and safe, thoroughly fitted and 
abundantly adapted to all the environmental conditions 
needed for their complete development and growth. 

The work of plants in soil building. — It follows, then, 
that every kind of plant is a soil builder. The decay of 
the plant at once produces a change in the texture of the 
soil-making material. It is this addition of the organic 
matter — the dead plant — that produces this constantly 
performed miracle : for as the plant decays in the soil, the 
particles of soil in contact with it likewise decay. In 
other words, soil rotting is soil making. Decay of any 
material in the soil — organic or not — favors and induces 
the breaking down of the various complex compounds 
forming the rock, or the raw or the untamed soils. 



20 



SOILS 



The addition of vegetable matter to the soil has assisted 
in soil making- from the time that plants came first to the 
planet; it has increased the efficiency of all other agencies 
ever since the early days ; and at the very present time 
it is the soil builder's best friend, — its decay is essential 
to the feeding of plants. 

The roots of plants have done their work in soil making. 
A great work it has been ! For they have gone down deep 
into the soil making tiny channels for air and water ; 
creeping into the crevices of rocks, they have continued 
their growth and their enlargement, in the end, breaking 

many rocks asunder, dis- 
lodging others from their 
beds, — exposing all to the 
disintegrating influences 
of air and moisture, of 
heat and cold. 

And roots — especially 
the small, fibrous ones — 
have a solvent action as 
well. The juice they 
exude at the tips, and the 
moisture with which they 
surround themselves, 
work a change in the soil 
particles between which 
they grow ; limestone or 
granite or feldspar or mica 
slowly but surely suc- 
cumbs to the deteriorating 
action of root life. 

Animals the modern 

soil makers. — Soil making 

ALFALFA ROOTS GO DEEP INTO was considerablv 

THE SOIL 




^^.- w'jjjTj^, -^T 



THE SOILS THAT LIVING THINGS HAVE MADE 21 

advanced when animals first made their appearance. But 
animals of all sorts have been potent workers in soil 
making, the higher animals largely by the manurial re- 
turn to the land and the lower forms through the manurial 
effect, but also in directly affecting the physical conforma- 
tion of earth. 

For does not the ant seek the earth for its home and 
shelter, to construct there its house of many rooms, with 
the many tunnels connecting the dwellings of the nation? 
What are these homes and these tunnels but underground 
traps for air and moisture — soil builders? 

Besides the work done in this direction, a tremendous 
quantity of earth is annually turned over and exposed to 
sunshine and rain, to heat and cold, to every influence 
concerned with soil making and soil improvement. 

Every sort of insect or animal that burrows into the 
soil, that opens it, or tunnels it, or loosens it, contributes 
not a little to soil making: the ant that builds there, the 
mole that tunnels, the prairie dog or hedgehog that bur- 
rows, the earthworm that glides and crawls, and even 
eats and digests — all are man's good friends in having had 
a hand in preparing the surface of the earth for the luxuri- 
ant growth of vegetable life. 

The task of the earthworm. — The task that has been 
the earthworm's is a most important one. So simple are 
these creatures, so faithful are they in their labors, so 
undemonstrative in their duties, we scarcely give them a 
thought save the time when we seek them for bait for our 
fishing traps. But the earthworm has for ages been 
busy opening the soil to air and water, and even more : it 
eats the raw soil underground and plows its way upwards 
and downwards, casting at the surface the unused por- 
tions of its eatings. In doing this, the muscular gizzard 
of the worm is ever busy rubbing and grinding stony 



22 SOILS 

particles, mixing with these the organic matter taken into 
the body system ; with these go the secreted slime that 
has a dissolving effect — useful in making subsoil and un- 
tamed earthy constituents available as food for plants. 

As proof of the great good of these indefatigable workers, 
we have the evidence of Charles Darwin, who after long 
study and observation declared that in many parts of 
England as much as ten tons a day of dry earth annually 
were passed through the bodies of these common worms 
of the field. He also calculated that as much as ten inches 
of the upper surface of the soil passed through their 
bodies every fifty years. You can gather from this evi- 
dence what worthy workers these insignificant animals 
have been in preparing the earth for the habitation of 
man. The increased production of all products of the 
garden, of the orchard, and of the field has been due, in 
not a small measure, to these underground helpers and to 
these wonderful workers in soil making. 



CHAPTER III 
WHAT WE FIND IN SOILS 

Having come now to the point where soils are made, 
we may with all propriety consider their physical nature, 
and then the treasures they hold fast secured in their 
earthy storehouses. Not that soil making has ended, for 
this process goes on forever. Only this : a time has been 
reached in their development when, with the aid of tillage 
tools, the most productive and useful of plants might now 
be grown for the highest profit of man. 

Let us go out into the field itself. Of what is this soil 
made? was at one time the' first incjuiry. Naturally, it 
was said that soils were derived from the original rock 
formations. We have discussed already the agencies that 
have made our soils. No single one is responsible for 
yours or mine. That we possess these soils, there 
is no doubt. What brought them to us, what 
placed particular soils within the limits of our possessions, 
what influence or agency made them rough or 
level, good producing or poor producing, is not 
the problem now. 

Four kinds of soil materials. — Our present inquiry is 
in reference to their physical conformation, to their com- 
ponent parts, to the minerals composing them. These ma- 
terials are : sand, silt, clay, and humus or organic matter. 
All productive soils contain these materials, but not in 
the same proportions. There is a wide difference in the 
quantities of each in our many varieties of soil. A pre- 
ponderance of one of these materials over the normal 



24 



SOILS 



average gives rise to a grade distinguished by the name of 
the material there present in excess of that normal aver- 
age. Hence, we get names that stand for the particular 
type, as sand soils, where much sand is present ; clay 
soils, where much clay or silt is present; and humus soils, 
where much organic matter is present. 

Plants show preference for certain soils. — And there 
is a very great problem unfolded here, for the most of 
our field crops do not do equally well on each of these soil 
types. Not a little partiality is shown. While some crops 
are not so very choice of their soil homes, others are par- 




A CROP THAT IS HARD ON THE SOIL 

Tobacco is usually a profitable crop, but one that quickly exhausts the soil 
of its fertility 



ticularly mindful ; in fact, some, like the grape or tobacco 
plant, permit their fancy to extend even as far as the 
manufactured product. 

Size of soil particles. — It is due to the size of the parti- 
cles of which soils are made that we have our various 
classes of sand and silt and clay — rock descendants. 
When these particles are separated mechanically, we find 



WHAT WE FIND IN SOILS 25 

that they can be classified into various groups, as follows : 
fine gravel, coarse sand, medium sand, fine sand, 
very fine sand, silt, fine silt and clay. To these 
components let us add humus, moisture, the sol- 
uble plant food elements, and we shall have the 
soils of our fields. 

The size of these particles and their mechanical ar- 
rangement have much to do in way of influencing soil 
productivity, of influencing heat, moisture, and plant 
food factors, of governing the type of soil that each crop 
fancies. Thus it is that a sand soil — where the coarser 
particles predominate — is a most favorable medium when 
reenforced with humus, in which certain crops, like the 
vegetables, are most at home. On the other hand, you 
will find the opposite extreme — where the finest soil 
grains predominate — most favorable to wheat and grass. 
In the first case — the sand type — water is freely received 
and as freely given to the subsoil, while with the clay 
type water enters with difiiculty but remains longer with 
its host. Between these extremes we find all sorts 
of modified types : light sand loams, sand loams, 
loams, clay loams, and heavy clay loams. We 
should add, also, humus to these combinations, for 
it must be understood that humus is positively a 
necessity for remunerative crops, regardless of type 
or of ancestry. 

What mechanical analysis shows. — To illustrate this 
point, let us take the meclianical analysis of barren sand 
soils : examples of the sand type that are found in many 
sections of the country — along the seashore, in the sand 
hills of the arid West, and throughout the desert regions. 

Using the plan now generally approved by soil investi- 
gators, we get the following — the average of ii barren 
sand soils : 



26 SOILS 

BARREN SAND SOILS 

Material Per cent 

Organic Matter 3.75 

Fine Gravel, 2-1 mm 1.40 

Coarse Sand, 1-5 mm 27.92 

Medium Sand, .5-. 25 mm 31.64 

Fine Sand, .25-. i mm 17.48 

Very Fine Sand, .1-.05 mm 12.66 

Silt, .05-.01 mm 1.90 

Fme Silt, .01-. 005 mm 0.86 

Clay, .005-.0001 mm l.il 



The above percentages tell their own story : they show 
the classes in which these soil particles fall. In other 
words, as much as 84 per cent, of these barren soils is com- 
posed of sand. You can note readily the small percentage 
of silt, humus, and the clay components. Were plant 
food to be added, it would be lost as quickly as the water 
that falls as rain. 

Soils containing so high a per- 
centage of sand may be used for a 
limited number of crops, and then 
only when reen forced with or- 
ganic matter, chemical fertilizers, 
and water at frequent intervals 
(by irrigation, if possible). 

What special soil types show. — 
To develop this idea further, let 
us take the analyses of a few soils 
where certain standard crops grow 
to their fullest perfection, not for 
a single year, but for a time of 
sufficient duration to give these soils the right to the name 
of model examples of their type or class. 




SECTION OF THE SOIL 

SHOWING AIR SPACES 

AND PARTICLES 



WHAT WE FIND IN SOILS 27 

MECHANICAL ANALYSES* OF TYPICAL AGRICULTURAL SOILS 



Material 


Corn 


Wheat 
Soil 


Grass 


Truck 


Barren 
Clay 


Bright 
To- 
bacco 


Heavy 
To- 
bacco 


Fine Gravel, 2-1 mm 

Coarse Sand, 1-5 mm 

Medium Sand, .$-.2$ 
mm 


0.00 
0.15 

2.65 
16.25 

26.81 
25-30 
15.60 
10.10 


0.00 

0.23 

:.72 
6.08 

36.82 
20.92 
II. 21 
2.3.78 


0.00 
0.08 

0.13 

0-53 

10.94 

19.02 
4.67 
5I-7S 


0.00 
0.30 

6.04 
49.63 

32.29 
6.24 
1.93 
2.80 


0.00 
0.00 

0.29 
1.27 

8-93 
20.16 
16.72 
50.02 


3.09 
7.16 

21.74 
22.92 

16.76 
13-17 
8.24 
4.80 


1. 12 

1.82 

'•37 
0.39 

4-34 
34.40 
10.58 
35-24 


Fine Sand, .25-. i mm... 

Very Fine Sand, .1-.05 
mm 




Fine Silt, .01-.005 mm.. 
Clay, .005-.0001 mm 



What does this table show? This — in a most striking 
way : that wheat soils, handled under certain conditions, 
possess a moderate quantity of their soil grains in the form 
of very fine sand, silt, fine silt, and clay ; that truck-crop 
soils possess but a small quantity of the finest grains, 
their characteristic lying in the great quantity of fine and 
\ery fine sand ; that the bright tobacco soils possess a 
limited quantity of the finer grains and most of the 
coarser grains, while the heavy tobacco soils are largely 
composed of the finer grains with a much lesser quantity 
of the coarser materials ; that the grass lands possess a 
very great quantity of clay and silt, but a relatively small 
amount of the coarser sand grains. 

In this table two types of grass lands are shown : the 
productive and the barren. The former is in good physi- 
cal condition, that is, its texture is in good form : the soil 
grains are reasonably well arranged, the humus content 



♦ United States Department of Agriculture. 



28 SOILS 

(while not given here) is probably sufficient to insure a 
healthy influence on plant growth. The barren clay here 
discussed is just as rich in plant food, but the soil grains — 
largely clay — are so arranged that the soil is puddled ; it 
offers extreme resistance to rain in its passage through, 
so that when plants are grown in this type of soil they 
quickly use the water about their roots — and much to 
their hurt. 

Wise farming plans will be in the line of drainage by 
tiles, thorough aeration by good tillage, and much organic 
matter supplied through stable manure and the legumes. 

How soil type affects plant growth. — The explana- 
tion of this is here : soils of a sandy nature maintain less 
moisture — only 5 to 7 per cent. — than those of a clay 
nature, and they are more open, the soil grains are larger, 
and the water resistance small. Hence, they dry out 
more quickly after rains and become sufficiently warm 
early in the spring and soon after rains, so that maturity 
is hastened. 

Grass lands, on the other hand, because of the large 
amount of small grains — silt and clay, — maintain from 18 
to 20 per cent, of water, or nearly four times that of the 
truck lands. Consequently, these soils are colder by 
nature and therefore less active in maturing their crops. 
A longer time is needed, and this is favorable to the heavy 
leaf growth of grass, — a thing altogether undesirable for 
vegetable crops. 

Wheat lands, since the season of growth is long, are 
influenced favorably by this same fact of size and ar- 
rangement of the grains. 

It sometimes happens that seasons are extremely favor- 
able — sufficient water, Avarm weather in early fall and 
spring, and good covering of snow for winter protection — 
and wheat on the very stiff lands does moderately well, 



WHAT WE FIND IN SOILS 



29 







•**» 


CfflKMga 




1^ - '3£ 


^(^ 




^ 


" '> *y^M 


m^^ 




B^ 




i 

'i 




1 


■ 




1 




1 




1 


^^.iL;:^',>-' 


^^^^ 


1 


1 




ON TWO TYPES OF SOIL 

The upper picture shows well-grown apple trees in good loam soil, 
lower picture poor apple trees in light gravel loam. About 
40 years is the age of the trees in both cases 



The 



30 SOILS 

provided these stiff soils have been well aerated by tillage 
tools, for a time sufficient to put the soil in good physical 
condition. The best types of wheat land carry less 
moisture — from 12 to 15 per cent. — than the best grass 
types. 

Many secondary types are found. — \\hile the me- 
chanical analysis of soils recognizes but eight divisions, 
classified from the size of soil grains, the direct applica- 
tion to the field will show a great many more factors, since 
other considerations are in effect here, as the humus 
content, the arrangement of soil grains, the lay of the 
land, the ancestry of the soil, and the climatic help or 
hurt. 

The force of this is shown where humus is added to a 
soil. You find two soils alike in every way. Add humus 
to one — the texture is changed, the water-holding capac- 
ity is increased, the productivity is made greater. You 
have not changed the size of the soil grains, the basal 
principle of type remains the same. 

Another example : Take two sand soils, of the same 
basal type precisely, the components in both instances 
being the same. One is located in a section where the 
rainfall is abundant and where it is frequent. The other 
soil in a section where just the opposite extremes exist. It 
follows, without discussion, that other conditions being 
present — food, warmth, seed, and culture — the moist soil 
will generally produce a satisfactory crop and the dry 
soil an unremunerative crop. 

Mechanical analysis a help and guide. — We receive 
assistance when we know soil types, for we have a most 
helpful guide here at hand. But we have no posi- 
tive rule to follow in the selection of crops we shall grow. 
With more study, with more investigation, we may in 
future years predict with greater safety the behavior of 



WHAT WE FIND IN SOILS 3I 

soil under cultivation antl when j^iven certain crops that 
•seem to fancy these special types best. 
Bear these things in mind : 

1. That sand areas, when properly rcenforced with 
humus, water, and plant food, are peculiarly adapted to 
all kinds of truck crops. 

2. That early truck crops are more safely produced 
when a maxinuini of sand and a minimum (piantity of clay 
prevail. 

3. That general or laLc truck crops are most safely pro- 
duced when the sand type carries the mininnim of the 
coarser and the maximum of the finer sand grades. 




CHOP ADAI'TATiON 
An apple orchard extending from loam to clay 

4. That fruit growing calls for considerable clay as a 
part of the sand type. 

5. That the best corn crops are produced where neither 
sand nor clay predominates — the silt materials producing 
the best results. 

6. That the general grain crops are best suited when 
furnished a silt type of soil. 



32 SOILS 

7. That wheat is most at home in soils where fine silt 
and clay predominate. 

8. That grass fancies most those soils that carry a 
high percentage of clay. 

9. That potatoes prefer a sand type where medium sand 
prevails, where silt is present in a medium quantity, and 
where clay is present only in moderate quantities. 

10. That with these special types must be included 
good tillage, humus, air, moisture, and plant food. 

Soil type standards. — It is out of the range of possi- 
bilities to give definite standards of soil type for specific 
crops : too many conditions prevail, such as previous 
treatment of the land, climate, plant food, humus content, 
soil drainage, tillage methods, etc. The following stand- 
ards are suggested in the light of known conditions — in a 
very general way : 

1. Early truck and potatoes: 

Not more than 15 per cent, of water. 
As much as 60 per cent, of medium sand. 
Not more than 10 per cent, of clay. 
About 20 per cent, of silt. 

2. Late truck and fruit: 

Not more than 20 per cent, of water. 

As much as 50 per cent, of medium and fine sand. 

Not more than 25 per cent, of clay. 

From 10 to 30 per cent, of silt. 

3. Corn : 

An average of 20 per cent, of water. 

Not more than 50 per cent, of medium fine and very fine 

sand. 
Not more than 20 per cent, of clay. 
From 15 to 25 per cent, of silt. 



WHAT WE FIND IN SOILS 33 

4. General grain : 

About 20 per cent, of water. 
From 40 to 60 per cent, of silt. 
From 20 to 30 per cent, of fine sand. 
From 15 to 20 per cent, of clay. 

5. Wheat: 

From 15 to 20 per cent, of water. 
From 20 to 30 per cent, of clay. 
From 30 to 70 per cent, of fine silt. 
Not more than 15 per cent, of sand. 

6. Grass: 

From 20 to 25 per cent, of water. 

From 40 to 70 per cent, of clay. 

From 20 to 30 per cent, of silt and fine silt. 

Not more than 10 per cent, of sand. 



CHAPTER IV 

CONCERNING THE TEXTURE OF THE SOIL 



Some soils are worked with ease, others with difficulty : 
plows are drawn with little resistance or with much, 
water enters freely or very slowly, plant food accumu- 
lates in quantities to meet the needs of plants, or so slowly 




pi^: 



---■i -" 



<v 



















A CASE OF BAD TEXTURE 
Even though much culture was given, the soil is left open, lumpy and coarse 

that they are starved, seed beds are prepared with much 
labor or with a minimum of effort — all these conditions 
are governed by the texture of the soil. If you would 
know the power behind these activities, you need to seek 
no other than the soil particles. 



CONCERNING THE TEXTURE OF THE SOIL 35 

The manner of their arrangement, their size, their num- 
ber and their structure, all enter into a clear understand- 
ing- of the texture of the soil. For let this be said : the soil's 
physical conformation, in so far as it influences the tem- 
perature of the soil, the supply of water, and the circula- 
tion of the air, has more to do with successful plant 
culture than its chemical composition. There are many 
soils that are abundantly supplied with all the necessary 
chemical constituents, but, lacing in such a poor physical 
condition, they are quite unable to do any work of a 
serviceable nature. I'hcy are of poor texture. 

Soil texture may be modified. — The texture of the soil 
may, of course, be modified. There is a limit to the 
change that may be efifected, however, and time is re- 
quired, also, if this is to be done. Our clay lands still 
remain clay lands, although man has been at work with 
them for thousands of years. And the same is true of 
sand areas, or of any other special type of soil. 

But they may be modified. Organic matter, when added 
to soils, improves them : the clays open, air and water 
more freely enter and do good ; the barren sands more 
tightly grasp soluble plant food and water, and hold them 
longer for growing plants. Organic matter warms the 
heavy clays and lessens the burning of the sands, and it 
increases available plant food in all. 

Since it is not within the ability of a man to effect 
marked changes in the character of his soil, it follows that 
the wisest practice will be to select those crops best suited 
to the peculiarities of individual localities. Therefore, we 
shall not attempt to grow wheat, for instance, in soils of 
light texture — the sand types — nor garden vegetables in 
the clay types. 

While, on the other hand, we do grow crops in all parts 
of the country, in all sorts and types of soil, we do so only 



36 



SOILS 



with average success. When we get out of the range of 
our so-called common soils — those of the normal aver- 
age — we meet with failure, usually, unless the crop, be- 
cause of its nature, fancies the peculiarities of that indi- 
vidual soil. 

Air circulation. — A soil is often unproductive because 
there is no opportunity for the circulation of the air. Air, 
you know, is just as necessary for plants in the soil as it 
is needed for them above it. When you have a soil that 
is puddled readily, air is excluded and plants growing 
there lose their strong growing powers, turn yellow, and 
become either stunted or die. 

Water circulation. — Water is an important component 
of the productive soil. Is it present in too great a quan- 
tity? If so, the plant develops slowly, maybe it dies. Is 
it lacking in the soil? If so, the plant behaves in the same 




TAKING SOIL SAMPLES 
A common way of getting samples for moisture determination 



CONCERNING THE TEXTURE OF THE SOIL 



37 



way : it either never fructifies or does so in a feeble way- 
only. In the first case air was excluded, although much 
moisture was present : enough to dissolve plant food and 
carry it through the plant. In the second place, air was 
free to enter, but so little moisture was present the plant 
food was dissolved poorly and as poorly carried into the 
plant. 

The pore-space of the soil. — lioth the air content and 
the water content of the soil are governed and controlled 
by the pore-space of the soil. Since the soil is composed 
of particles of sand, silt, clay, and humus, and since these 
vary in size and in numbers as well as in arrangement, 
it follows that open spaces will naturally exist at the meet- 
ing points of these many particles. It were impossible for 
man or nature so to arrange these particles that no open 
spaces might exist. Where the larger grains predomi- 
nate, large open spaces naturally result, while where the 
clay particles — the 
finest grains — pre- 
dominate, the open 
spaces are very tiny, 
indeed. 

The n u m b e r of 
pores is less in the first 
than in the second 
instance, but, on the 
other hand, they are 
much larger. 

The diagram illustrates the idea. The pore spaces of 
sand types are larger in size but smaller in number than 
those of the clay types. 

The water films. — When you pour water over a hand- 
ful of marbles, you note that it runs off but leaves the 
marbles wet. In other words, a film of water, surround- 



I 






H 


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large: particle. small particle. 

LARGE PORE-SPACL SMALL PDRE-SPACE 



THE POKE-SPACE OF THE SOIL 



38 SOILS 

ing each marble, has been left behind. So it is in the soil. 
Each particle — and there are billions in every cubic inch — 
seizes water as it passes down into the soil and holds 
it so tight that only the highest heat in the drying oven 
will entirely release it. Consequently, every field soil has 
its many, many particles wrapped in a thin sheet or film 
of water, and even the dry dust of the road holds fast to 
its minimum quantity of water. 

The following table shows the water content of com- 
mon field soils during a period of drought — six weeks in 
duration : 

T'- J 1: o -1 Per cent. 

Kind of Soil ^^ ^^^gr 

Clay road dirt 2.64 

Sand — low in humus 8.34 

Clay — excellent for grass 19.61 

Silt bottom — produces eighty bushels of corn 12.30 

These same soils were sampled later in the same season, 
after a period of rain of several days' extension. The 
water content is shown in the table following: 

Per cent. 
Kind of Soil of Water 

in Wet Soil 

*Clay road dirt 29.08 

Sand 22.53 

Clay 31-96 

The passing of water through the soil. — The rate that 
water passes through the soil is governed by : — 

1. The pore-space in the soil. 

2. The water channels formed by the arrangement of 
soil particles. 

3. The amount of humus in the soil. 

It follows that great differences will be observed in the 
passage of water through soils — open soils permitting it 

*The road dirt was dried considerably by travel, which cut and opened 
it— a process of aeration. 



CONCERNING THE TEXTURE OF THE SOIL 39 

to flow easily and rapidly, tig'ht-fitting soils with slow- 
ness and with difficulty. 

In proof of this, note the flow of water during- twelve 
hours through sand and clay soils, both typical samples 
of the field : 

Kind of Soil Inches 

Sand — good potato soil 118.0 

Clay — good meadow soil 1.3 

Since a soil composed largely of sand is open, but little 
resistance is offered to the flow of water, for a tiny stream 
is soon formed which remains constant so long as the 
supply remains unchanged. On the other hand, the fine 
particles — these compose clay soils — act as a barrier to 
water as ii: goes downward to such an extent that only a 
very small quantity ever makes its way through. 




A SOIL THAT NEEDS HUMUS 
To get humus in the soil is to make the first step in soil improvement 



40 



SOILS 



When humus is present in the soil in any appreciable 
quantity, it increases the ease of flow — at least, its ab- 
sorption — for the clay types. In this respect it is manifest 
that humus is a valuable contribution to both these soil 
types. Without humus, both sand and clay are at a dis- 
advantage, each showing the loss not only at harvest- 
time but throughout the growing periods, regardless of 
crop, or season, or section. 

Three forms in which water exists in the soil. — Three 
kinds of water are present in soils : gravitational water, 
capillary water, and hygroscopic water. 

Immediately after a rain, gravitational water, or that 
which will move under the influence of gravity, is present 
in the soil, where it remains until it works its way down- 
ward into the subsoil or until it is removed by nat- 




CIRCULATION OF WATER IN THE SOIL 

By gravity water goes into the soil, by capillarity it circulates through the 

soil and upwards, and unless prevented bv a mulch, it goes 

out into the air by evaporation 



CONCMUNING THE TEXTURE OF THE SOIL 4I 

ural or artificial drains. You have this kind of water in 
all wet places — wherever water accumulates to leak or 
drain awa}' only with the slowest activity, or else not to 
move at all. 

Capillary water represents the usual supply for the 
g-rowth of plants. It is the normal average — the visible 
water content of the soil. It is the remains of gravita- 
tional water — what is left behind in the upper soil and 
held as films around particles and in the finer openings. 
It is the water that is attracted and held fast by soil parti- 
cles as its kind passed downward, enticed ever onward by 
the force of gravitation. 

It is this capillary water that gathers up soluble plant 
food scattered all about in the soil, that breaks into closed 
storehouses where plant food is held, releases it that it 
may be united with the rest, so that all may be delivered 
within easy reach of the fibrous roots for plants to use for 
food and growth. 

Capillary water is found in interspaces of the soil. 
\\'hile its natural direction would be downward because 
of gravitation, it really moves in the opposite direction, 
since the pulling force of the drier particles is greater 
upward. Hence, capillary water constantly moves from 
moist regions into others less moist. The surface of the 
land, being warmed by the sun and dried by the air, soon 
loses its moisture through evaporation, calls to the lower 
depths for more, and in this way replenishes its normal 
supply. 

By this principle, soluble plant food that either existed 
in the subsoil or that was carried there by gravitational 
water, is now brought upward into the surface areas, 
where grow plants' feeding roots, now to be used when 
needed. 

The minimuin moisture content of the soil is known as 



42 



SOILS 



hygroscopic water. Soil particles of cultivated lands 
allow gravitational water to escape without resistance. 
They permit capillary water to climb out of their reach, 
even to be evaporated into the atmosphere, with some 
reluctance, it is true, but withal, its freedom to go is 
granted. But the last bit of film water — the tiny covering 
enclosing each wee particle — is held fast — so fast that no 
force of gravity, no drying demand of warmth or heat or 
sun is able to snatch away these many little shrouds in 
their entiretv. 



WATER- HOLDING POWER OF 50IL5 
WHEN 100 POUNDS OF SOIL ARE USED 


SOIL 

SANO ■ 
CLAY ■ 


^ 


WATER 
... 22 Tbs. 




55 lbs. 




HUMUS ■ 




■il431bs. 



VEGETABLE MATTER AIDS THE SOIL IN HOLDING WATER 

Water-holding capacity. — When the pore-spaces of 
the soil are filled with water, the soil is saturated. Every 
bit of air has been driven out and for the time being the 
soil is dead. In time — if the soil has been properly han- 
dled — the excess water will be removed by gravitation 
and by capillarity, the soil then will be in fit condition to 
contribute its share to crop production ; for air, you 
know, if good root development is to be had, is as neces- 
sary as water. 

The amount of water that a soil holds will depend upon 
several things, the following being of first importance : 

I. The nature or type of the soil : 

Sand soils receive and give ofif water freely, clays take 
and give ofif slowly. 



CONCERNING THE TEXTURE OF THE SOIL 43 

2. The nature of the subsoil : 

Sand and clay subsoils act similarly with surface soils: 
open subsoils open the top reservoir, stifT ones hold the 
water fast. 

3. The amount of humus in surface soils : 

Where no humus is present, the water content is less, 
since the air spaces are less in number and less able to 
hold. Much humus in the soil enlarges the water-holding 
capacity. 

4. The looseness of the soil : 

A loose, open soil, where humus components are pres- 
ent, increases the absorption power, and may increase the 
water-holding power. 

5. The physical condition of the soil : 

Where clods are present, the particles are tightly 
pressed together, allowing neither air nor water to enter. 
Open these clods, and you increase both the size and the 



■"•fci** *Wr^V**S IV •» *• r* *•*.*«•• V 



AMriMtaiii 



"SfcJ"^^^^.- 



TKEKS IX Till-: I'KAikll-: KKGIUN 

Summer culture saves the moisture and the trees jrrow 

number. A soil well supplied with humus, and when fine 
and mellow and in good high tilth, holds its maximum 
quantity of available water. 

6. The method of surface treatment : 

Since water escapes rapidly through evaporation, it fol- 
lows that any method of cultivation that reduces this loss 
will enable the soil to hold its water longer. Any treat- 
ment that fails in doing this assists in making the loss 
constantly greater. 



CHAPTER V 



HOW PLANTS FEED 



CARBON 



Learned men have been searching for many centuries 
that they might discover the elements which form the 
vvrorld. 

Up to the present time between seventy-five and 

eighty have been found 
in the soil, the rock, and 
the air; but strange as it 
may seem, only fifteen 
of this number are 
found in plants and ani- 
mals, ten of which are 
absolutely essential to 
the growth of plants. 

Where plants get 
their food. — There are 
just two sources of 
plant food : the soil and 
the air. The young 
plant beginning its life 
obtains its first food 
from the seed. With 
this food it starts its 
roots into the soil and 
its stems and leaves in- 
to the air. Henceforth 
both roots and leaves 
will gather food for 
further and future 
growth. 




WATER AND 
MINERAL 
SUBSTANCES 



''^^'^NITRATES^ 



HOW PLANT FOOD GETS INTO THE SOIL 

Carbon is taken in through the stomata, or 
mouths, on the undersit3e of the leaf. All 
the mineral elements and the nitrates are 
in solution in the water and pass in this 
way into the plant through the root hairsat 
the tip end of the growing root. Later this 
same water passes out of the leaves as 
vapor 



now PLANTS FEED 45 

The leaves take from the air carbon and oxygen. 

The roots take from the soil water (oxyi^en and hydro- 
gen), potassium (potash), phosphorus (phosphates), ni- 
trogen (nitrates), iron, sulphur, calcium and magnesium, 
as essential elements of plant growth. While manganese 
is present in small quantities in nearly all plants, it is not 
an essential element, nor are sodium, silicon, aluminum, 
boron, fluorine, barium, lithium, and chlorine. 

Composition of plants. — W hen all sorts of plants are 
mixed together and dried (all moisture driven off by 
heat), the following proportion of elements results: 



Element Per cent. Where the plant got it 

Carbon 45.0 Air 

Oxygen 42.0 Air and water 

Hydrogen 6.5 Water 

Nitrogen 1.5 Soil, air and bacteria 

Ash or mineral compounds 5.0 Soil 

Total 100. 



From this it will be seen that the greater part of all 
plant food comes from the air and water — only a small 
quantity from the soil. 

Carbon is secured by the leaves. — If you partly burn 
a match, you observe it has become black. You now see 
carbon — this black substance. Every part of a plant con- 
tains carbon. Do you wonder now why this element is 
so important? And do you know that all carbon in plants 
comes from the air? The leaves of the plants gather it, 
not a particle is taken by the roots. Here is a great ser- 
vice that leaves perform : they use the carbon of the air 
for making starch and sugar. Without leaves or without 
carbon, we would have no starch or sugar in the world 
in any form. We have two interesting things about this 



46 



SOILS 



manufacture: none but green plants, and by them only 
in the sunlight, can carbon be used or starch or sugar 
manufactured by the leaves. Thus we find that sunlight 



CARBONIC ACID 




CARBONIC ACID 



THE UNDERSIDE OF A LEAF WITH A MICROSCOPE 
a. Mouths or stomata; b. Cells of the leaf 



is power or energy and the green coloring of leaves the 
machine that combine in the performance of this work. 

Soil-food is secured by roots. — Before soil-food can 
be used by any plant it first must be put in soluble form 
by the water of the soil. It then reaches the plant by 
means of root hairs — the small, slender, delicate branches 
of the roots. These root hairs are the feeding organs, and 



now PLANTS FKKU 



47 



so tiny arc they as many as 38,200 have l)ecn counted on a 
siniji'le inch. 

The large, coarse roots with which you are so familiar 
have nothing to do with absorbing plant food from the 
soil. They serve merely to conduct the 
sap and nourishment from the root hairs 
to the body of the plant. Since the root 
hairs are formed only very near the tips of 
the finest roots, it follows that plant feed- 
ing takes place some distance from the 
spot out of which the plant itself grows. 
In applying manvire or other fertilizer to 
trees and plants, it is well to remember 
this fact : get the food as near the feeding 
roots as possible, rather than near the 
trunk or stem. 

Roots take nourishment by osmosis. — 
It matters not how closely you examine 
root hairs, you will find no pores or holes 
in them. It is evident, therefore, that no 
solid particles can find their way into the 
root hairs : food in solution, only, can ])ass 
into the root. The law governing this 
principle is known as osmosis. You can 
readily understand the action of this law 
by a simple experiment: Take a glass tul)e 
or small lamp chimney and tightly fasten 
over one end a bladder or a piece cut from 
one. After the bladder has been securely 
fastened, pour into the tube or lamp chim- 
ney a small quantity of molasses; now place this in a 
jar of water, so held that the level of the molasses inside 
and the water outside will l)e the same. Fasten the tube 
i'-'. this position and observe from time to time for three 



OATS 

These roots do 
not go very 
deep into the 
soil 



48 



SOILS 




CROSS-SECTION OF ROOT HAIR 



or four hours. You will note shortly after the apparatus 
has been so placed that the molasses in its receptacle is 
gradually rising above the level of the water outside. If 

you use a slender tube, it may 
overflow even at the top. 

The increase in the contents 
of the tube or lamp chimney is 
due to the entrance of water 
from the outside ; for the 
water has passed through the 
thin bladder, or membrane, 
and has come to occupy space 
in the tube. While the molas- 
ses seeks passage through the 
membrane to the water below, it does so very slowly, so 
slowly it is scarcely noticeable. The in- 
teresting behavior is this : There are no 
holes or pores in the membrane, but still 
there is a free passage of liquids in both 
directions, although the more heavily laden 
solution must move more slowly. 

Now, root hairs behave in the manner 
here described. Soluble nourishment — 
needed plant food — passes from the outside 
to the inside through the delicate membrane 
of the root hair. Thus does food enter the 
plant root. From the root hairs, foods are 
carried into the root. Thus do we say a 
root takes nourishment by osmosis. 

The sap current. — Growing plants are 
ever busy gathering food, the root hairs 
securing nourishment from the soil and the 
leaves carbon from the air. As soon as the carbon is man- 
ufactured into starch and sugar, these manufactured foods 




ROOT HAIRS 



HOW PLANTS FEED 



49 



CARBONIC ACID 
OXVGEN 



nuist l)e carried to all parts of the plant. Likewise, the 
substances brought in from the roots must be taken up- 
wards into the leaves. To perform the duties two cur- 
rents are required : one to carry the product secured by 
leaves downward, that 
needed food may go to 
the roots ; and another 
to carry the root acqui- 
sitions upward, that 
leaves may not be neg- 
lected. 

This explanation dis- 
proves the old notion 
that sap goes up in the 
spring and down in the 
autumn. This sap wa- 
ter, when taken up by 
the root hairs, is in a 
very dilute state. The 
minerals and nitrates 
dissolved therein are 
carried up into the 
leaves, but left behind 
when the water is evap- 
orated into the air. 

A\ hen the summers 
are dry and hot and 
there is but little water 
in the soil, the leaves 

shrink up. This is simply a way they have of keeping 
the water from passing too rapidly off into the air. This 
withering is a wise provision after all, for when the plant 
closes the mouths or pores of the leaves, evaporation is 
checked until the roots can secure a supply from the soil 




HOW THE SAP CURRENT MOVES 



50 SOILS 

below. Water is. therefore, necessary, that soil-food may 
be carried in and through the plant, and even to carry the 
leaf-manufactnred products back to the roots. 

The upward current from the roots passes through the 
woody portion of the trunk, while the downward current 
from the leaves passes through the bark. 

How the plant uses its food. — A plant is a body of 
cells — millions of them, just like your body. These cells 
increase in number as the plant enlarges, grows. Every 
cell is an enclosed sac, holding within it the juice and 
other substances necessary for its enlargement and 
growth. The walls of these cells are made of cellulose — a 
carbon compound, produced from the carbon that enters 
the leaves from the air. When the cell is first made the 
cell wall is thin and tender, just as we find it in green 
and young plants, but as they mature the wall becomes 
hard and woody, and less appetizing and digestible. 

These plant cells are responsible for the use of the food 
obtained from the air and from the soil, for the building 
of plant tissue and for the formation of the compounds of 
the plant or the fruit of the plant. 

Every live, active cell contains protoplasm, the real life 
of the cell. When the soluble soil materials — we call 
these plant food — have been carried up through the long 
channels of cells and when they reach the leaves, they 
come in contact with starch grains and carbonic acid. 
Here these various compounds are decomposed through 
the action of heat, and sunlight, and protoplasm, and 
chlorophyl : starch is made or changed into sugar, or 
maybe starch or some starch derivative is united with the 
nitrates and sulphur in some way so that protein results, 
or maybe oil or cellulose or crude fiber is manufactured — 
each is made just as the plant decrees. 
The meaning of plant-building. — Before these elements 



HOW PLANTS FEED 5I 

were enticed into the plant they were of no value to man. 
He could not use them for food or for clothing; he could 
not use them for fuel to cook his food or to keep his body 
warm ; nor could he call upon them for any special use. 

But behold the change when the plant takes them up ! 

Without value in the soil and air before, now the plant 
calls them into use : tissue is built, which soon becomes 
food for man and beast ; clothing for shivering or blis- 
tered skins is now provided ; shelter for the strong and 
weak is now possible ; fire for a thousand uses is now 
ablaze ; energy for the work of the world is now avail- 
able ! 



CHAPTER VI 
THE ELEMENTS THAT PLANTS USE 

We have considered heretofore the physical side of 
soils : the components that make them, the size, the ar- 
rangement, and the behavior of the soil particles, the 
work of air and water — how each is influenced by the 
texture of the soil. 

Our knowledge of these things has been given to us 
largely by the soil physicist, who, either in the field or in 
his laboratory, has sought to discover those laws that are 
concerned with the mechanical conformation. Now we 
are ready to learn of some of the findings of the chemist, 
for in his laborator)^ are revealed many hidden secrets, but 
none of more interest than those having to do with soils 
and plants. 

A word about the element itself. — We must not mis- 
understand the nature of an clement : it is a single thing 
altogether, standing by itself and alone. Water is not an 
element, because it is composed of two elements — oxygen 
and hydrogen. Table salt is not an element, for sodium 
and chlorine — two elements themselves — have united and 
salt has resulted. Wheat is not ^n element, nor is the air 
we breathe ; neither are the clothes we wear, the coal we 
burn, the food we eat: — these are compound substances, 
made of two or more single elements. 

An element from its very nature is indestructible. You 
can destroy plants, and animals, and wooden things, — all 
made of many elements, — but you cannot destroy the ele- 
ments that compose them. \\ hen plants or animals die, 
when substances decay and disintegrate, or otherwise are 



THE ELEMENTS THAT PLANTS USE 53 

destroyed, the elements that originally formed these sub- 
stances enter into new combinations and go back either 
to the soil or to the air (from where they came), there to 
remain until called into service again by plants or animals 
for some service of the world. 

Elements not in a pure state in the soil, — Do not imag- 
ine that the elements essential to plants are to be found 
in a pure state in the soil, for they are not. You will 
find only one or two in the entire list of chemical ele- 
ments that are to be found in a pure state anywhere in 
nature's storehouses. Of course, in the chemist's labora- 
tory you will be able to find these, for it is his work to 
separate the elements and to acquaint himself with their 
characters that he may recognize them readily when freed 
by him or held slave by some organized force, like a plant 
or animal. 

These elements do not behave in just the same manner: 
some are poisonous to us, others are food ; some may be 
seen and felt and tasted, while others we can neither see 
nor feel nor taste ; some are abundant, present in every 
place ; others are so rare we may never see them at all. 

Plants use elements combined with others.-^When con- 
sidering the elements that compose soils and plants and 
animals, remember, therefore, that they are not in a free 
and pure state such as the chemist in his laboratory may 
force them to go; they are combined always with other 
elements, producing by their combination the innumer- 
able products of the world. While we speak of elements 
of plant food, we should remember that such are given to 
the plant out of products which possess these elements, 
but in combination with other kinds. To understand more 
clearly these food substances which plants so greatly 
fancy and need, a brief discussion of each will follow : 

Oxygen: our most important element. — With every 



54 SOILS 

breath of fresh air, you take oxygen into your lungs. So 
oxygen, therefore, must be a common element. And so it 
is — both common and abundant — more so than any other 
element in the world. Just think of this : one-fifth of the 
atmosphere, three-sevenths of all the plants, one-half of 
the entire solid crust of the globe, and eight-ninths of all 
the water are formed of oxygen, and thousands and thou- 
sands of other substances besides. 

Oxygen is a gas — tasteless, colorless, and odorless. 
You neither can see nor feel it, nor can you taste or smell 
it. It is slightl}^ heavier than air, and is moderately active 
at ordinary temperature, but at higher temperatures it is 
one of the most violent and powerful chemical agents 
known. 

Oxygen possesses strong chemical affinity for other 
elementary substances : with most of these it is found in 
combination — fliiorine excepted. These combinations are 
made with great intensity. This gas has power of sup- 
porting combustion in an eminent degree. 

Here are just a few of its combinations: 

1. With hydrogen it forms water — just common water. 

2. With nitrogen (mixed but not combined) it forms 
air. 

3. With silicon it forms sand. 

4. With calcium and carbon it forms limestone and 
marble. 

5. With aluminum, hydrogen, and silicon it forms mar- 
ble and all the varieties of clay. 

Besides these inorganic combinations, oxygen is found 
in all the tissues and fluids of plant and animal life — fat, 
starch, protein, fiber, etc. — none of which can support 
existence independently of this element. 

Hydrogen : the lightest of known substances. — The 
lightest of all known substances is hydrogen : a gas 



THE ELEMENTS THAT PLANTS USE 55 

I4j/timcs lighter than air (hence its use in filling bal- 
loons) and over 11,000 times lighter than water. 

Hydrogen is tasteless, odorless, and colorless ; and 
incapable of supporting life, although not poisonous. It 
is combustible — combines with oxygen and develops light 
and heat. It is very abundant; being an ingredient of 
many organic and inorganic substances. 

A few of its combinations are : 

1. With oxygen it forms water. 

2. With chlorine it forms hydrochloric acid. 

3. With sulphur and oxygen it forms sulphuric acid. 

4. With nitrogen and ox3^gen it forms nitric acid. 
We also find hydrogen in organic substances — protein, 

starch, fat, fiber, etc. 

Nitrogen: the most costly of purchased plant foods. — 
In appearance nitrogen in no way differs from the atmos- 
pheric air, of which it is the main ingredient (four-fifths 
of the air is nitrogen). Hence we know it to be without 
color, taste, or odor. In weight it is somewhat lighter 
than atmospheric air. It may be described as negative 
in its properties, for it is not combustible, nor is it a 
supporter of combustion. It somewhat dissolves in 




THE GREATER PART OF THIS WONDERFUL CROP COMES FROM THE AIR 

water, and its combining powers are very slight. While 
nitrogen is present in the air in large amounts it lends 
itself to the use of plants in exceptional cases, only, the 



56 SOILS 

legumes being the sole recipients of its favor, and then 
only through the medium of bacteria. 

While it is impossible to give relative values to essen- 
tial elements of plants and animals, if it were not impos- 
sible, nitrogen, undoubtedly, would be given first rank 
among all life-producing agencies. 

Besides its occurrence in animal and vegetable forms, 
nitrogen frequently is combined as follows : 

1. With potassium and oxygen, forming the potassium 
salt known as saltpeter. 

2. With sodium and oxygen, forming the sodium salt 
known as Chili saltpeter. 

3. With hydrogen, forming ammonia. 

Carbon: the basic element of heat and energy. — This 
element is diffused throughout the world. It is most 
abundant in combined forms, the exceptions being: min- 
eral graphite or black lead and the diamond — pure crystal- 
lized carbon. 

We are never interested in carbon as a plant food, since 
this element enters from the air into the leaves. In plant 
and animal building, carbon is found in every constituent, 
hence it becomes a central element in organic processes. 

In inorganic forms, among its many combinations may 
be mentioned: 

1. With oxygen it forms the carbonic acid gas of the 
atmosphere, the natural waters, and the limestones. 

2. With oxygen and hydrogen it forms coal. 

3. With hydrogen it forms coal-oil or petroleum. 

All of these substances are associated with combus- 
tion, showing that plant building is an effort on nature's 
part for storing heat and energy for future needs of the 
world. 

Silicon: the sand maker. — Silicon is never found in 
nature except in combination. Its combination with oxy- 



THE ELEMENTS THAT PLANTS USE 57 

gen is the most abundant solid constituent of our gloljc, 
and in less proportion is an equal necessary ingredient 
of the Vegetable Kingdom, while in the Animal Kingdom 
it occurs usually in mere traces. As sand — just common 
sand — it is of the utmost value in making the soil a pleas- 
ant and comfortable home for plants. 

Sulphur: the match maker. — This element, while es- 
sential to plant growth, is used only slightly as a con- 
stituent of the albuminous bodies. At any ordinary tem- 
perature it exists in nature as a solid, brittle and tasteless 
body of a characteristic yellow color, and insoluble in 
water. 

Sulphur is present in the soil sufficiently to supply all 
the needs required of it by plants. It is extensively em- 
ployed in the arts and manufactures, gunpowder and 
sulphur matches being common forms of its use. 

Phosphorus : our most inflammable element. — So readi- 
ly does phosphorus burn, even at ordinary temperature, 
it is necessary to keep it under water for preservation. 
Because of its inflammable nature, it is successfully used 
for the making of matches. 

Phosphorus is colorless or slightly yellow, translucent, 
and poisonous. It occurs in nature in the form of phos- 
phates or salts of phosphoric acid. Without it in the soil, 
plants will not grow, for it is indispensable in the life 
process of both plants and animals. 

The following may be mentioned as common forms of 
its combination : 

1. With calcium and oxygen when calcium phosphate 
is formed. 

2. With magnesium and oxygen when magnesium 
phosphate is formed. 

3. With aluminum and oxygen when aluminum phos- 
phate is formed. 



58 SOILS 

4. With humus materials when humic phosphates are 
formed. 

Phosphorus is one of the elements usually lacking in 
depleted soils, and when such is the case, it must be 
supplied if productive crops are to be had. 

Chlorine: the salt maker. — Chlorine is a gas of yel- 
low-green color — hence its name. In weight it is about 
2j^ times as heavy as air. When separated from its 
compounds, it is exceedingly poisonous, and possesses 
a very disagreeable odor. 

While it is abundant in nature its most common as well 
as most important compound is common salt. 

Among its combinations may be mentioned : 

1. With sodium it forms common salt. 

2. With calcium and oxygen it forms chloride of lime. 

3. With mercury it forms corrosive sublimate. 

4. With ammonia and liA^drogen it forms sal ammoniac. 
Chlorine is found in all plants and soils, combined with 

other elements. 

The metals: potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, 
aluminum, and iron. — The chemist divides the elements 
into two groups : the metals and the non-metals. We 
have just discussed such non-metallic elements as are 
used by plants. We are now to say a word about the 
metals that enter into plant building. 

Potassium. — This element is of a bluish-white color 
and presents a strong metallic luster. It has a very great 
affinity for oxygen. While potassium is somewhat widely 
diffused, it does not exist in a native state — only in com- 
bination with other forms. When thrown on water, 
potassium takes fire. 

In the early days before the soap factory came, water 
was passed through wood ashes, thereby dissolving the 
potash and leaching the same, to be collected and later 



6o SOILS 

to be made into soap. This is one bit of evidence that 
potassium is present in plants in considerable quantities ; 
and hence must be present in the soil. 

Common forms in which potassium unites: 

1. With chlorine forming muriate of potash. 

2. With sulphur and oxygen and aluminum forming 
alum. 

3. With nitrogen and oxygen forming potassium 
nitrate (saltpeter). 

Potassium is often lacking in soils. It is one of the 
three elements — the others being phosphorus and nitro- 
gen — most often purchased in commercial forms to re- 
inforce the insufficient quantity in the soil. In the arts 
and manufactures the potassium compounds are very im- 
portant, being used in glass making, soap making, in 
fertilizers, and in many drugs and chemicals. 

Sodium. — When isolated from its compounds, this ele- 
ment is waxy, white, and so readily oxidized that it acts 
violently upon water, and so to be preserved must be kept 
under petroleum or some similar liquid. It is present 
in the soil in sufficient quantities to supply all needs of 
the plants for it. We know this element as an ingredient 
of common salt, of sodium bicarbonate, or soda — just 
plain baking soda, of sodium carbonate or sal soda, and 
of caustic soda. 

Calcium. — This element, when united with oxygen, 
forms lime. It is pale yellow in color when separated 
from its compounds. The following are its principal 
compounds : Calcium carbonate or limestone, calcium 
sulphate or gypsum, calcium fluoride or fluor spar, and 
calcium phosphate or apatite. 

Magnesium. — A light silver-white substance, essential 
to plants. Commercially we know of it by its com- 
pounds : Epsom salts as a medicine, talc as a skin pow- 



THE ELEMENTS THAT PLANTS USE 6l 

der and meerschaum as an earthy material. Magnesium 
powder burns with a strong, active light, and is used 
for Hashlights with the camera. 

Aluminum, — This light metallic substance is familiar 
to all, since its employment in making useful things of 
all kinds : for the kitchen, the nursery, etc. It is re- 
markable for its resistance to oxidation. It is found in 
all clays, and thus forms a large part of many of our soils. 

Iron. — We all know this element. It is the most com- 
mon and most useful of our metals. It is also of common 
occurrence throughout the earth. It combines readily 
with oxygen, as iron rust, hence the brown and red color 
of fields where much of this element is present. Iron is 
readily oxidized (rusted) when moisture is present. The 
farmer is never called upon to supply this element as a 
fertilizer, since it always is present in the soil sufficiently 
to supply the needs of plants. 



CHAPTER VII 



HOW PLANT FOOD IS PRESERVED 



If you think Nature is not careful of her securities, or 
that she is not mindful of the many deeds of trust she 
holds, or if you think her gifts to man a sort of "hit or 
miss" donation, you will quickly change this view when 

you begin a study of the 
way she has taken care of 
her soil possessions. For 
this is true : not for a gen- 
eration, nor for a century, 
not even for the reign of a 
nation, but Nature must 
provide for centuries and 
centuries, for millions and 
millions of years, that all 
the people may have food 
and raiment and a thou- 
sand comforts as well. 

The plant the medium. 
— Nature makes the plant 
the medium through 
which this work is to be 
done. By sending roots in- 
to the soil and leaves into 
the air, elemental sub- 
stances are brought together, arranged and formed into 
organized things, into plant tissues. Of course the sun, 
with its heat and light, is the great energizing power 
behind this throne of effort, but the plant is the 




THE COTTON PLANT ABOVE AND 
BELOW THE GROUND 

Both leaves and roots are at work 
gathering food for growth 



HOW PLANT FOOD IS PRKSERVED 63 

agent that does the work. Heretofore inert and inactive 
elements are gathered together during the process of 
growth and are now associated by growth activity. Thus 
the elements become available food or stored energy for 
animal life, which in its turn and in its realm carries for- 
ward the work of the physical world. Whether or not the 
plant is utilized by animals, it performs its function ; for 
in its growth, maturit}^ and decay it exercises, as has been 
shown, a profound influence in the formation and ameli- 
oration of soils. But whether it goes directly back to the 
soil by decay, or indirectly through the animal, the ele- 
ments return to the soil and the air from which they were 
originally drawn. While the organization has been 
destroyed, not one single thing has been lost: all is re- 
tained for future duty in the world's work. 

Plant food shifted but never lost. — So plant food is 
ever shifted but never lost. On the mountain top to-day, 
but to-morrow it may be in the depths of the sea. In the 
soil, useless it may be one year, but e'er the summer's sun 
has passed again, it has been locked for a brief space in 
grain or fruit or forage, gathered here and garnered there 
until animal life has picked again its organized state to 
pieces : when back to its original elemental form this 
same material goes again. 

Not all elemental material is used. — Do not think that 
all the earth and air is engaged in this constant transitory 
condition. This is true : only a part of the earth and air 
are thus engaged — just a wee bit, in fact. The greater 
part of it, more than ninety-nine parts of every one hun- 
dred, is never used at all. And why? Simply because 
Nature has chosen that way as the manner in which her 
work shall be done. For she is wiser than you may think. 
Suppose she had allowed all the earth and all the air to 
be usable food for plants and beasts and men : would it 



64 SOILS 

be here to-day? When we find it so difficult to hold fast 
to the little that has been given us, do you think we were 
able to care for plant food in all its entirety, had it been 
given into our keeping? If man knows not how to use 
his one talent, shall he be given two? 

Let me assure you of this: it is better that things are 
as they are, for had they been diliterent, had all the plant 
food been just ready to use from the very beginning of 
time, then long before this the sea had gathered it up : 
to have it and to hold it, until its bottoms had been filled 
and its banks had been broken ; until new sea beds had 
been formed, until the old reservoirs had been robbed 
of their holdings by wind and air — plant food should be 
urgently required else all life would be lost; else the 
entire w^orld would be ruined and destroyed. 

How plant food is held. — We gather from this that 
some plant food is available for use, and some of it is not. 
We may say then that three forms of plant food exist in 
the soil. 

These three forms are : 

1. Available plant food. 

2. Not-immediately-available plant food. 
3. Tightly-secured plant food. 
Let us now examine these forms individually. 
Available plant food. — You have, doubtless, 

seen nitrate of soda or wood ashes. Both of 
these materials are used to make plants grow; 
for this purpose they are purchased. They are 
plant foods. The nitrate of soda or wood ashes 
are used because the nitrogen or the potassium 
contained therein is in each case available plant 
food ; that is, growing plants will be able to use 
A ROOT HAIR ^j^g material just as soon as it gets 

WITH SOIL .,.,,., . , , • , 

ATTACHED mixcd With the soil grains and wetted with 




HOW PLANT FOOD IS PRESERVED 



65 



the soil water. The plant food — nitrogen and potassium 
contained in these materials — at once goes into solution ; 
the soil water dissolves these two elements out of their 
compounds and both enter the roots of plants as rapidly 
as either is called. If just a small quantity of either mate- 




MAKING PLANT FOOD AVAILABLE 

The farm orchard is neglected too often. Some people cultivate their 
orchards every year, and by so doing get the helpful influences of tillage 



rial had been given the soil, the entire amount added 
might have been gathered in by the plants there growing 
in a single season, but if more than that required had 
been applied to the soil, then, the surplus would remain 
there for succeeding crops, or it would be lost by the win- 
ter's leachings in case the soil and subsoil were open and 
sandy and deficient in humus — the guardian and pro- 
tector of the available plant food. 



66 SOILS 

Available plant food in the soil is small. — Even in 
very fertile soils a great deal of available plant food is 
never present. Available plant food comes and goes ; 
especially is this true with soils having poor texture and 
poor physical conformation. There seems to be a certain 
possible limit, depending on the condition and the treat- 
ment a soil has been given previously. When this limit 
has been reached, available plant food passes into some 
insoluble form that loss may be ever kept within reason — 
an organized retreat, rather than an utter rout. 

Soils abundantly supplied with vegetable matter are 
the least susceptible to this changing state. They hold 
plant food better and longer, so long, in fact, as the 
vegetable supply is kept replenished. These humus soils, 
when favored originally with all needed mineral materials, 
lead in the race of high production, other things being 
equal, like water, heat, tillage, and correct management. 

How much plant food in the soil? — Since nitrogen, 
phosphorus and potassium are the elements, as a rule, 
lacking in the soil, we need consider them only in esti- 
mating the plant-food content of any soil. 

To illustrate this point just a bit of evidence will be 
produced. The data below, arranged by Roberts, present 
the case : Average analyses of 49 soils : Nitrogen, 3,053 
pounds; phosphorus, 4,219 pounds; and potassium, 16,317 
pounds. These quantities are present in each acre, the 
depth being twelve inches. 

The not-immediately-available plant food. — Passing 
now to the second form in which plant food exists, we 
have that which is unaffected by the dissolving effects 
of soil water — soil water, you know, secures the available 
form at once or very quickly — and only slightly by the 
acids exuded by the roots. This not-immediately-avail- 
able plant food, in so far as the present crop is to be fed, 



HOW PLANT FOOD IS PRESERVED 



^7 



has no concern, for it contril^utcs no food for the plant. 
Perhaps it heli)s a little ; l)nt so slowly, so nig'g'ardly, so 
bci^riulgingly, its help needs not be included, as a rule, 
in immediate results. 

An example of this form. — Fine i^round phosphatic 
rock — untreated with acid — is a good example of this sec- 
ond class — this not-immediately-available plant food. 
True, this rock has been ground and ma}'l)e as finely as 
practical grinding machines are able to do it. Still, plants 



1^1^ 


!^MS^^^^^ 






^HH 




jl 


'^ 


^^^^^^H9a|rl VjI 




■^^.. 


'■' ..^fi 


Jl^^gL^'^C'.^Pf 




felH 


Jl 



AT WORK IN THE CORN-FIELD 
Cultivation is helpful in rendering plant food available 



are unable to use it, fine as it is. for plant roots, you know, 
never entice particles into their tiny cells ; they take only 
dissolved materials. Plence this fine ground rock — 
needed though it may be by the very plants that reject it — 
is still mere unavailable plant food. And so it will re- 
main until air and water, or heat and cold, have tried 
their pulverizing, disintegrating powers, until their 
forces have crumbled it and humbled it into dust — then, 



68 SOILS 

and not till then, will this material (in any considerable 
quantity) pass into solution and into available plant food. 
Of course, the same effect may be accomplished in 
other ways and in quicker ways : by employing acids, for 
instance. And this is done, and on a very large scale in 
many of our commercial fertilizer factories. The huge 
crushers take the rocks as they go from the beds in the 
earth, they twist and turn and roll and pound them until 
they are broken into pieces ; and then the dissolving by 




GETTING READY FOR COTTON 
Cotton lands need good tillage and humus more than fertilizers 

sulphuric acid follows. Before this the ground rock re- 
sisted ; feebly, now, a part of it gives up and becomes 
plant food — available plant food. 

In this instance man's contrivance has done more in a 
week than Nature, unaided, would be able to accomplish 
in a century. With her own acids, man sometimes re- 
quires Nature, herself, to do his will. After all, this form 
of plant food as it exists in the soil is not for the present 



HOW PLANT FOOD IS PRESERVKI1 69 

day; it is for the morrow. It is the inside material that 
is being prepared and manufactured slowly, that it may 
be made a part of the soil's labor and commerce, and 
that it may be available at some future day when it will 
be called into use. 

Making this kind of food available, — To help in this 
work you can do these things : 

Till the soil frequently and well. 

Cultivate when needed, using judgment and fore- 
thought. 

Keep vegetable matter in the soil. 

Tillage will admit air and water to lower depths in 
the soil. These agents, in themselves, will do wonders in 
changing this heretofore unavailable plant food into avail- 
able forms. 

Correct culture will do the same : for it allows these 
same busy bodies to carry on their weathering processes 
even though the soil be dry or moist or cold or hot. 

The tightly-secured plant food. — The third class, or 
that form in which plant food is tightly secured, occupies 
the greater part of the storehouse of the soil. Here are 
the rocks and the boulders ; the many materials that 
plants never use find rest and shelter within this clothing 
of the earth : and not a bit of it is available plant food, 
not a bit of it will be plant food for ages and ages and 
ages to come. 

Use the strongest acids known and they will act but 
slowly on many of the materials herein sheltered or hid 
away from water and air. What headway may plants 
be expected to make against these giant forms? Not 
much, truly. But still remember this : In the beginning 
the earth was rock — nothing but rock, and yet plants 
did conquer. And so in time, aided by other good soil 
makers, they will conquer every stubborn rock that finds 



70 SOILS 

its way into the surface soil. The water will help, and 
the air will help ; so also will frost and heat do the part 
that should be done by them : all these will work to- 
gether, just as they did millions of years ago when all 
was in the beginning, just as they have worked always 
and even as they are Avorking now. 

It's Nature's way. — And this is as it should be : for 
there must be plant food for the use of the world when 
another million years shall have rolled around. It were 
not right for us to have it all. Fast secured it is and 
fast secured it will remain. It's Nature's way of pro- 
viding for all the plants and animals and peoples that in 
time shall come. 



CHAPTER VIII 

GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH PLANT FOOD 

The elements nsnally deficient in the soil are nitrogen, 
phosphorus and potassium. All others are found in quan- 
tities sufiicient for the needs of the plant. In some soils 
lime has proved of value when added, largely because of 
its intluence in sweetening the soil, and sometimes be- 
cause it may be needed as food substance. 

Our early faith in chemical analysis. — When chem- 
istry was directed toward agriculture some sixty years 
ago, and when a great deal of attention was devoted to 
analyses of soils and plants, it was believed that much 
light was thrown on the many problems concerned with 
soil fertility. And such was the case. The soil and plant 
analyst gave the world much information that served both 
as a guide and as a help in solving some of the mysteries 
of soils and plants. 

We had a great deal of faith in the analyses in those 
early days. For was it not reasonable to suppose that 
when you analyzed the plant, ascertaining its many con- 
stituents and substances, and then when you analyzed 
the soil, you should be able to judge, and to know within 
reason, just what element was required for any soil for the 
maximum yield of the crop? 

The plant, therefore, was analyzed, a careful study 
of the elements composing it was given, a comparison of 
these chemical studies with plants of the same kind, 
though grown in other soils, was made ; in short, it was 
carefully determined just how much of each and of every 
kind of elements essential to plants was withdrawn from 



'J2 SOILS 

the soil, when both full and average and meager yields 
were secured. 

Naturally, it was concluded that when the full crop 
was obtained, all elements of food were, of course, pres- 
ent, and therefore every requirement of the plant was 
available and provided ; that where light yields were 
obtained, some element or elements were present insuffi- 
ciently for the fullest development of the plant. Conse- 
quently, if you would overcome this difficulty, you had 
only to take a sample of the backward soil that its anal- 
ysis might be secured and then the truant element would 
be discovered. With this done, its duties might be pro- 
vided through the addition of the element in some other 
way — by chemical manures, most likely. 

What was later revealed. — Some surprise followed the 
analysis of soils, for high productive soils often showed 
no greater plant-food content than the most miserable 
producing ones. And this was just the same when a like 
crop was seeded on similar soil types. 

This naturally caused surprise and further investiga- 
tion. All sorts of soils were then analyzed and all sorts of 
plants. The same results were obtained ; as a rule, how- 
ever, the best producing soils contained a large quantity 
of plant food, the low producing soils a smaller quantity. 
When calculations were made, it soon was discovered 
that great quantities of plant food, even in the most un- 
productive soils, were present ; quantities so great that 
in but a few inches of surface soil, enough plant food was 
there at hand to make maximum yields, and these yields 
for hundreds of years. When these same soils were 
seeded to crops, however, light yields invariably resulted, 
despite the fact that chemical analysis showed that every 
kind of plant food was there and it was there abundantly 
— an hundred times as much as the plant required. 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH PLANT FOOD 



73 



The gap between laboratory and field tests. — No one 

realized these discrepancies more (|uickly tlian the early- 
investigators themselves. But they could not explain 
them. They felt they were working in the right direction, 
but the results of the laboratory and those of the field 
often failed to find a common meeting point; often the 
laboratory results indicated high producing qualities, but 




POOR GRASS, POOR CATTLE 
This soil is deficient in available plant food and humus 



the actual field results showed decided negative results; 
often the laboratory results indicated only mediocre crops, 
yet at harvest time the fields showed entirely opposite 
results — full crops, as good as the best. 

The explanation is here. — In more recent years an ex- 
planation has been suggested. It is this: Every soil con- 
tains two kinds of plant food: usable, such as plants 



74 SOILS 

secure without difficulty, and unusable, such as is enclosed 
in the storehouse of rocks and particles and compounds. 
The soil analyst is not able to distinguish between these 
two forms, with sufficient accuracy to tell exactly what 
the soil may need at any given time. Neither his cru- 
cible nor his acids will help him, in any certain degree. 
When the test actually takes place in the field, the story 
is there told with language of no uncertain meaning. In 
a previous chapter the kinds of food were mentioned : 
avaliable, the not-immediately-available and the tight- 
ly-secured plant food. 

Of course we cannot expect chemical analysis to show 
the difTerences between these forms. We are able only 
to determine the total amount of food present : the poten- 
tial plant food, the food that is now and shall be available 
some day hereafter, as food for plants. An old notion 
is still held. A great mass of people still believe, that all 
that is necessary to know how to handle a soil is to secure 
its analysis that the plant food content may be ascer- 
tained. But, with our present knowledge, let this be 
accepted as certainty : the chemist can determine only 
the total quantity of plant food in the soil : the usable 
plant food plus the unusable plant food. And he cannot 
tell you whether it is available food or otherwise. It 
will be necessary for you to seek elsewhere than the labo- 
ratory for direction. 

Analysis will help to some extent. — But an analysis 
of the soil may do great good. It may indicate in what 
direction improvement lies : whether tillage only is neces- 
sary that dormant supplies may be called into use, 
whether organic manures are best that the humus con- 
tent may be increased, or whether mineral manures are 
likely needed that they may reenforce the plant food al- 
ready present. While it is true these only are indicative, 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH PLANT FOOD 75 

their value is most noted when judiciously weighed and 
interpreted. 

Investigation along this line indicates that a most im- 
portant character in soil analysis is calcium carbonate, 
the lime carrier. 

The following suggestions seem in accordance with 
these facts : 

1. When calcium carbonate is scanty in the soil, liming 
the land is advisable. 

2. When calcium carbonate is scanty in the soil, acid- 
made manures, like acid phosphate, super-phosphate, 
ammonia sulphate, are inadvisable, and manures, neutral 
in nature, like basic slag, ground bone, wood ashes, and 
nitrate of soda, should be used. 

3. When calcium carbonate is plentiful in the soil, then 
the acid-like manures may be used. 

4. When calcium carbonate is abundant in the soil, 
nitrification of organic matter will take place rapidly. 

5. A\'hen calcium carbonate is abundant in the soil, use- 
ful bacteria will develop with ease. 

Analyses should be extensive. — An isolated soil anal- 
ysis is seldom satisfactory for the simple reason there is 
no standard of comparison. All values result through 
their measure with other standards. We get the great 
bulk of our knowledge by comparison. Every isolated 
subject is valueless unless it can be compared with some 
known quantity. For this reason, an isolated soil anal- 
ysis is without value unless it can be compared with the 
known value of some other soil analysis. For this rea- 
son, then, soil analyses ought to be extensive and gen- 
eral, rather than isolated and haphazard. Such a system 
will give us general standards that will be valuable with 
every comparison. 

Analyses of soil and subsoil should be made. — When 



76 SOILS 

making a soil analysis, both soil and subsoil should enter 
into consideration, for the variation between these two, 
in chemical compounds, may compensate sometimes one 




I~SUBSOIL 2— SURFACE SOIL 

CORN GROWING IN SURFACE SOIL AND SUBSOIL 
There is practically no growth at all in the raw subsoil 

for the other. If a sand soil were analyzed, it might 
show very meager possibilities for crop production and 
especially this might be true if the subsoil were likewise 
of a sand nature, and at some depth. If, on the other 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH PLANT FOOD 



77 



hand, just beneath the upper eij^ht or nine inches of sand 
soil, a subsoil of clay formation were present, it follows 
that different conditions, of course, are ever at hand, so 
that a lack of any soil constituent in the soil might be 
furnished by the subsoil and, what would indicate, by 
analysis, a poor, or even barren soil, might, in fact, be a 
most productive one. This shows the necessity of con- 




A BEET DRILL AT WORK 

Seeds are put into the ground and the soil compacted that moisture may be at 
hand to germinate the seed and to supply the needs of the little plant 



sidering soil analysis from a broad standpoint, that every 
phase of the subject may 1)e included. 

The condition, as well as quantity, must be known. — 
Furthermore, the condition of the plant food must be 
given its proper weight, fully as much as is given the 
absolute quantity of ])lant food. An analysis might show 
that nitrogen, for instance, is present in the soil as am- 
monia or as nitrates. The latter would be more readily 



78 SOILS 

usable by the plants. Then, too, if it were known that 
the plant food were held in a soil that is finely pow- 
dered, of good physical condition, well supplied with 
water, bacteria, and all factors incidental to the growth 
of this supply, we should prefer to stand our chances 
with a soil of this nature, with plant food in this condi- 
tion, than where all opposite conditions were present. 

Observe the soil itself. — If you would get acquainted 
with this hidden plant food which you cannot see, you 
must take the soil, itself, into your confidence and then 
continue to observe the soil in the fields ; to watch it as 
it produces crops of this nature and of that nature ; to 
see how it behaves in summer and in winter or in wet 
seasons or in dry seasons : in short, you must not neglect 
this constant intimacy with the soil out of doors, as it 
does the work satisfactorily, or as it tries to do it under 
the circumstances with which you have enclosed it. 

With this training, which you must give yourself that 
j^ou may learn to observe and to know the soil, and to 
reenforce the best knowledge by such information as 
general soil analyses — not in isolated cases, but of soil 
groups or soil types — you should be able so to acquaint 
yourself with your soils that you may know the best way 
of handling and treating them for each and every crop. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE POTENTIAL PLANT FOOD: ITS STORES AND 
NATURE 

Just as soon as it was determined that a mere chemical 
analysis of the soil would not reveal the element or ele- 
ments lacking therein, a study of the way in which dif- 
ferent crops used the food elements was undertaken. 




A CKui' Til AT CALLS FOR MUCH NITROGEN 

Corn makes heavy demands on the nitrogen stores and does best when in 
rotation with the legumes 



This study soon showed that all plants used the same 
kinds of food, incorporating these foods in their body 
tissues, and, also, that these foods were used by the 
different plants in varying proportions : some using a 



8o 



SOILS 



good deal of nitrogen but little phosphorus and potas- 
sium, others using but little nitrogen but much phos- 
phorus and potassium, and still others much potassium 
but little nitrogen and phosphorus, and other plants us- 
ing these foods in still other proportions. As individual 
plants were studied, it was observed that some plants 
used one or more food elements that each particularly- 
fancied, and while each used the other elements, it did so 
very modestly, and, when compared with its favorite 
dish, often very shyly, indeed. 

Some variations in food requirements. — To prove that 
these variations in food requirement are real, we need to 
examine only a few plants — just four of our leading 
cereals. 

The table following shows these variations with four 
crops — each one being partial to a different combination 
of food elements : 



Crop* 


Nitrogen 


Phosphorus 


Potassium 


Corn 


77.2 
31-6 
3'-9 
45-5 


22.8 
9-7 
H.6 
15-3 


64.3 


Wheat 

Oats 


17-9 
36.1 


Barley 









This table shows that while corn is a heavy feeder of 
nitrogen and potassium, it is certainly modest in its de- 
mands on phosphorus. The table shows, also, that when 
wheat and oats are conipared, that the call for nitrogen is 
practically identical with the two crops, but that oats call 
for about 20 per cent, more phosphorus and no per cent, 
more potassium than wheat. 

* On basis of average yield per acre in United States. 



THE POTENTIAL PLANT FOOD 



8l 



In the case of barley, potassium is most in demand, 
with nitrogen not far behind, and phosphorus within the 
minimum range. 

Let us express these demands in terms of proportion, 
using nitrogen and lOO as the units of comparisons for 
each crop : we get : 





Nitrogen 


Phosphorus 


Potassium 


Corn 


lOO 
lOO 
lOO 
lOO 


30 

30 
36 
33 


83 
S6 


Wheat 


Oats 


Barley 


113 





These variations appear still more noticeable when we 
use the nitrogen of corn as the sole unit of comparison : 
we get: 



Crop 


Nitrogen 


Phosphorus 


Potassium 




100 
40 
4' 

59 


30 
12 
15 
20 


83 
23 
47 
66 


Wheat 


Oats 


Barley 







These two tables show notable variations in food ele- 
ments, utilized by different plants. Our comparison, in 
this instance, is of cereals, only ; when the range of ob- 
servation includes, not only cereals but also legumes, 
fiber crops, the grasses, and root and vegetable crops, as 
well, the differences are peculiarly striking and marked. 

Feeding demands of crops. — The cjuestion naturally 
arises : is it likely that continuous cropping will exhaust 



82 SOILS 

the land? And then, again, another question: is the 
potential plant food in sufficient store in the soil to meet 
all plant demands on it? We have discussed, already, 
the forms of plant food, and we shall not, at this time, 
consider the many wa^^s open to us for rendering these 
forms available. 

Let us, however, just as nearly as we are able, deter- 




A CROP THAT CKTS NITROGEN FROM THE AIR 

mine the quantities of food demanded of the soil by some 
continuous system of farming. 

For the purpose of illustration, let us assume that a 
young man at the age of 21 years secures a farm which 
he is to manage during his life — for 50 years, we will 
say. He plans a system of plant rotation as follows : 
(i) corn, (2) wheat, (3) clover, (4) clover and timothy, 
and (5) timothy: a five-year cycle. During the 50 years 
each crop will be removed 10 times. Our problem is this : 
In case each of these crops is removed 10 times and noth- 
ing returned to the land, how many pounds of nitrogen, 
phosphorus and potassium will be demanded of the soil, 
provided the yields are : corn 50 bushels, wheat 25 bush- 
els, clover 2 tons, clover and timothy i>4 tons, and timo- 
thy I ton during each five-year cycle? 

On the bases of average composition we get the follow- 
ing: 



THE POTENTIAL PLANT FOOD 



83 





Nitrogen 


Phosphorus 


Potassium 






40. q 
41.6 

35-4 
'7-7 

8j.S 

40.1 
18. g 

25.2 


1Q.6 
II. 6 

11.8 
3.6 

15.2 

5-7 
8.0 

10.6 








56.0 

7-5 
'5 3 

88.0 


Wheat 








Clover 




Clover and 
Timothy.... 




33-0 
»3-S 

18.0 


In Ji ton timothy 


Timothy .... 


In I ton timothy 


Totals for 




302.6 


86.1 


242.5 





This table shows the total quantities of three plant-food 
ingTedients secured by plants from the soil during each 
cycle period. Since 10 of these periods are included in 
the entire period of 50 years, there are removed 3,026 
pounds of nitrogen, 861 pounds of phosphorus, and 2,425 
pounds of potassium : in the aggregate a large quantity. 
The next questions arising now are : Can the soil sup- 
port this draft on it? Does the soil hold in store enough 
plant food to fill these demands? 

To answer these two questions, we will consult the 
soil itself. For the purpose, we will call for evidence 
25 soils that produce on an average the yields suggested 
in this study — 50 bushels of corn, 25 bushels of wheat, 
and 4^ tons of clover and timothy (in three years). We 
will get these soils from different sections of the country : 
from the South, North, East and West, from the cotton 
belt, the ha}^ belt, and the corn belt, from the arid lands, 
the semi-arid and the humid regions; in short, we will 
take typical lands of the country. 

The quantities of plant-fdod ingredients — nitrogen, 
phosphorus and potassium — found in the fine particles 
of each acre in the surface foot are as follows : Nitrogen, 



84 SOILS 

6,984 pounds ; phosphorus, 2,824 pounds ; and potassium, 
12,460 pounds. 

When these amounts are considered in connection with 
the requirements of the four crops — corn, wheat, clover 
and timothy — for the fifty-year period, we get the supply 
value of each ingredient. 

By simple calculation : 

Nitrogen will last 2.30 fifty-year periods, or 115 years. 

Phosphorus will last 3.28 fifty-year periods, or 164 
years. 

Potassium will last 5.12 fifty-year periods, or 256 years, 




A SURE WAY TO IMPROVE THE SOIL 

Four important factors to take into account. — But 

there are four other factors that enter into this furnishing- 
supply consideration besides the supposedly-available 
stores. These factors are : 

1. The constant contribution to the available store 
from previously unavailable material. 

2. The return to the land of straw, stover and other 
manurial refuse. 

3. The increase of the nitrogen supply through the 
legumes. 

4. The help that comes from the subsoil. 



THE POTENTIAL PLANT FOOD 85 

The contribution to the store of available ingredi- 
ents. — Nature is at work, constantly, chans^^inj^ the un- 
available stores of plant-food ingredients into available 
forms: every sort of soil maker is at work. Hence, we 
may conclude that the crops (included in our rotation) 
have not only for use the supply that was available at the 
beginning, but they have, also, an additional supply that 
is being contributed constantly by the soil-making agents. 

It is not unreasonable, then, to suppose, that when wise 
farming is done, manure added to the land, thorough 
tillage performed and a good tilth maintained, this contri- 
bution to the store of available food ingredients will keep 
pace with the outgo through the crops removed. 

In this connection attention should be called to the fact 
that soils are running out rapidly under the present sys- 
tem, due to loss of available food by constant removal of 
crops, and to the loss of humus, and the consequent in- 
jury to physical condition. 

The return of ingredients to the land. — There is sel- 
dom observed a system of soil cropping that removes 
the entire crop growth away from the land : always some 
part of the crop is returned to the soil, from where it 
originally came. With cotton, leaves, stalks, and often 
the seed find their way back ; with corn, the entire stalk 
or else the main stem, with the leaves, in the resulting 
manure ; with wheat, always the stubble and often the 
straw; and so with the most of our crops: some parts of 
them go back to the soil. In this way, the annual re- 
moval of plant food is lessened and a complete exhaustion 
is, in every way, quite out of the question. 

The increase of nitrogen due to the legumes. — In the 
cycle discussed [)reviously, during the entire term, clover 
occupies the land, more or less, for twenty years. Consid- 
ered in connection with this discussion, it is clearly evi- 



86 



SOILS 



dent that the nitrogen supply, instead of being seriously- 
disturbed, more likely is preserved and it may not be out of 
the range of possibilities to suppose that the normal aver- 
age is ever increased : a feature quite ojiposite in effect to 
that of depletion. Certainly, land occupied by clover two- 
fifths of the time during a fifty-year period preserves its 
producing power. Who will say it does not even increase it? 
The help that comes from the subsoil. — Since roots 
have come into the range of observation and study, we 
know that they seek deeper pastures than the surface foot 
allows. Roots go to a depth of two, three, four and often 




INCREASING THE NITROGEN WITH LEGUMES 

A crop of soy beans that are bringing: nitrogen into the soil and at the same 

time producing a high protein feed 

ten or twelve feet. Consequently, the supplies that come 
to plants are not solely from the surface foot : for plants 
get food wherever their roots go, wherever the root hairs 
find mellow earth into which they may search. 

This subsoil contribution, therefore, is a large one, and 
one that, in a great measure, influences the potential sup- 
ply of plant food, commonly supposed belonging to the 
surface soil, but which is a not-inconsiderable factor of the 
entire food-furnishing possibilities of the land. 



THE POTENTIAL PLANT FOOD 87 

Potential plant food is large. — We may be certain, 
therefore, that the potential supply of food is large, that 
the stores of available plant food are more or less con- 
stantly reenforced from other sources and that, this being 
the case, the following conclusions are correct : 

1. Soils are able to produce crops indefinitely with 
proper treatment. 

2. Soils are never exhausted of their potential plant 
food. 

3. Soils are often depleted in producing power, but only 
temporarily. 

4. Worn-out soils are not exhausted chemically but 
physically. Their humus has been used up. 

5. Soils, once productive, but now unproductive, may 
be restored to their former state through the rejuvenation 
of the physical life. 

6. Physical improvement is the first step necessary for 
restoring the producing power of soils. 

7. A fertile soil, wisely managed, maintains its fertility. 

8. A fertile soil, unwisely managed, loses its fertility — 
producing power — but not its chemical constituents : 
these are present in the tightly secured storehouses of the 
land. 

9. Crop production bears a close relation to the physi- 
cal nature of the soil — the humus content, the texture, 
the air and water circulation, the nature of the earthy 
material, the previous treatment given it ; but no correct 
estimate can be made from the chemical analysis of the 
soil alone. 

10. Chemical analysis can be interpreted only in con- 
nection with group or type surveys, reenforced by broad 
observations in the field, and modified by climatic condi- 
tions, commercial opportunities, and the temperament of 
the operator. 



CHAPTER X 

THE ROLE THAT TILLAGE PLAYS 

Just when man began the improvement of soils by 
means of tillage tools we do not know, nor do we know 
the kind of tools that were first employed. 

This, however, we know : the first written evidence of 
civilization includes in its work simple tillage operations 
that the fruits of the field might be increased. The first 
simple tool may have been a shell from the sea, or a 
pointed stone from the mountain side, or it may have been 
a sharpened stick ; it matters not, for in time these and 
other kinds were succeeded by the crooked stick, fastened 
to the horn of a bull, perhaps, which in time became 
modified, and developed into the modern tools of tillage. 

Nature tills the land. — While we often think Nature 
neither tills nor cultivates her fields, we forget that every 
force she has at work is actually performing just these 
very things. For what are the freezing and the 
thawing — the heaving of the surface — but tillage opera- 
tions ; what is the crumbling and tearing and breaking by 
air and water but simple forms of tillage ; what are the 
channels, made by earthworms and other animals that 
burrow in the earth, but plowing of another order ; what 
are the deposits of silt, left from overflowing waters, but 
new earth, ready for newly laid seeds, as rich and effec- 
tive as that turned by plow or any cultivating tool ; what 
are the roots that work their way deep into the soil but 
vegetable tools of tillage ; what are these — one and all 
of them — but plows and harrows and hoes, which Nature 
uses for preparing the land for new seeds, for new crops? 




ALFALFA ROOTS — VEGETABLE TILLAGE TOOLS 
A wonderful soil-maker at work. See how deeply the roots go down in the soil 



90 SOILS 

Nature Works Slowly. — Of course, Nature's tools are 
not meant for fast-working man : too much, now, is re- 
quired of the producing power of lands for modern men 
to depend upon these ancient, these earliest forms of til- 
lage. Nor are meant for our use to-day the ancient 
forms designed by the early man : the crooked stick has 
been displaced ; the wooden plow and the wooden harrow 
have disappeared ; so, also, all ancient, out-of-date tools 
and implements for every purpose have been replaced by 
kinds more suited to the needs and the demands of pres- 
ent-day requirements. 

Tillage not a modern practice. — Nor must we for a 
moment believe that tillage is a modern discovery. For 
it is not : it is as old as the practice of putting seed into 
the soil by cunning animal or man. It is a part of every 
civilization: of the ancient Chinese, of the Egyptians, 
of the Greeks, of the Romans, of the Britons ; it is older 
than history, even older than civilization. 

Jethro Tull the father of modern tillage. — The first 
impetus given modern tillage that has not yet abated 
had its origin with Jethro Tull, who set forth in 1733, in 
his book "New Horse-Hoeing Husbandry," his ideas re- 
garding the value of simple tillage for the purpose of 
fining the land. His entire philosophy was built on these 
premises : that plants secure food through absorption 
of the fine earthy particles ; that as the numbers of these 
are increased in the soil, so is increased its productivity; 
and, consequently, that the maximum growth of plants 
will result when the earth has been made fine. Neither 
the wise farmer nor the critical scientist can find fault 
with this system of tillage, for it is the basis of all good 
farming to-day. The fault is not with the system, but 
with the explanation, for plants do not absorb by means 
of their roots the fine particles of earth, as Tull and his 



THE ROI.E THAT TIIJ.AGE PLAYS 



91 



disciples believed. On the other hand, they do this: they 
use only soluble substances such as are dissolved by the 
water of the soil, and not the components that contain the 
elements of food, but the elements that are dissolved 
out of the earthy constituents. Hence, stirring the land 
by tillage is helpful only m increasing the available food 




-^^V 









?f^^- 




A GOOD JOB OF PLOWING 

It is a good plan to use the harrow while the soil is still fresh and moist— just after 
plowing. Then less effort will be necessary in preparing the seed bed 



by allowing soil water and air freer access throughout 
the soil so that they may more easily and more readily do 
their work. 

Now, these things being true, no particle, no matter 
how small it may be, ever enters into the roots of plants. 
Hence, tillage is not a direct source of plant food : it is 
not additional nutriment: it is, on the other hand, the 



92 SOILS 

Stimulant that induces plant food to seek solubility rather 
than to remain concealed with the components that are 
useless as nutriment for plants. 

The role that tillage plays. — Every one who tills the 
land, knows that tillage favors the act and increases the 
productivity of soils. The proof of this is furnished 
wherever thorough work with the plow and harrow are 
done ; wherever the soil is opened or stirred by any tool 
of any sort; wherever the soil is loosened or fined, or 
mellowed, by means of any description the soil will yield 
forth its fat in the crops produced thereby. 

Tillage does its work in many ways, the important ones 
being: 

1. The increase of available plant food. 

2. The beneficial effects that result in a mechanical 
way. 

3. The assistance rendered chemical changes. 

4. The increase of the water-absorbing and retaining 
content of the soil. 

5. The destruction of weeds through tillage. 
Available plant food is increased. — Since large stores 

of potential plant food exist in the soil, they should be 
called into active use ; and they ma}-- be so called, if 
effort is directed in the right way, that the qualities mak- 
ing them unattractive to plant roots may be eliminated. 
Only soluble food finds favor with plants; they reject all 
other sorts. It is the role of tillage to secure soluble plant 
food, to put hitherto insoluble substances into available 
forms, to insure stability in the food stores, and, even to 
increase, the normal supply. 

Beneficial mechanical effects. — The soil is the real 
home of the plant ; there the roots grow and gather food. 
Any agency that renders this home more attractive and 
comfortable, that increases the ease with which roots 



THE ROLE THAT TILLAGE PLAYS 



93 



may g'ather their substances, tliat opens the lower depths 
for less laborious descent, that enlarges the pasture 
grounds for feeding roots, favors plant growth and in- 
duces larger crops on the land so treated. 

Soils that are hard, compact and lifeless, through til- 
lage, may be opened, mellowed and restored to life. Any 




PLOWED FOR THE FIRST TIME 
The plow enlarges the pasture grounds for feeding-roots 



system of tillage that loosens and lightens such soils, im- 
proves their texture. And poor texture means poor, un- 
inviting, uncomfortable homes, in which few, if any, 
plants can prosper. Good tillage ofters much available 
food, warm, comfortable homes, inviting living environ- 
ments, and pleasant quarters in which tiny roots may 
live. 

When soils, by nature, are loose and open, they may 
be benefited by tillage tools that firm and compact the 
surface soil. Thus, often the roller is desirable for just 
this purpose : to press the particles together that the 
interspaces may be lessened and the particles, themselves, 
compacted thereby. This practice induces capillarity, 



94 SOILS 

and secures a freer movement of soil water from the lower 
regions to the surface layer above. 

The assistance rendered chemical changes. — The ways 
through which tillage increases the amount of available 
plant food elements are : 

1. The efifect on place and movement of soil particles. 

2. The entrance of the silent soil makers — air, water, 
etc. 




EFFECT OF I^LOVVINl, WET LAND 

This is ordinarily an easily cultivated field. It is now ruined for some time 

to come • 



3. The mixing of humus and other soil components. 

4. The freer movement of salts and gases. 

5. The influence of tillage on microscopic life. 
When soil particles are moved from the place they have 

occupied for some time, and brought into contact with 



THE ROLE THAT TILLAGE PLAYS 95 

other particles of a different nature, cheniical chanq'es are 
provoked through the interchanges of the chemical ele- 
ments of the many soil compounds. The interchange of 
acids and gases always is taking place in the soil, but it is 
most active when a disarrangement of soil particles has 
occurred. 

Since nitrogen is such an active element, combining 
freely with elements in all sorts of substances, it follows 
that when air is allowed entrance — and tillage allowed to 
rule — chemical action and change most actively takes 
place. 

A sure way to injure the soil is to saturate it with water 
or by tramping to exclude the air: you lessen- the activity 
of the chemical agents: you retard the making of plant 
food available. 

Whenever humus decays in the soil, the adjoining 
particles are affected, and, in a measure, at least, decay or 
rot. These break into simple compounds : they come 
nearer to the nature of plant food. Hence, when you 
incorporate humus in the soil, you add a plant food mat- 
rial to the soil and supply, at the same time, a forcefully- 
working agent that makes available stubborn food con- 
stituents. 

Tillage permits better diffusion of salts and gases, and 
other changes closely allied thereto, and influences fa- 
vorably the decomposition of earth and earthy materials. 

The microscopic life of the soil is influenced to a 
marked degree by tillage and its resulting effect upon the 
chemical nature of the soil. In connection with the nitro- 
gen element we have the denitrifying bacteria which lib- 
erate nitrogen into the air, and the nitrifying bacteria that 
change nitrogen compounds of the soil into nitrates, the 
form that plants use most eagerly. The first kind is in- 
fluenced by tillage in this manner : wherever poor aera- 



96 SOILS 

tion prevails, the denitrifying bacteria are most abundant 
and active ; hence, there is a constant loss of nitrogen 
from the soil — something certainly most undesirable. 

Poor tillage, bad aeration, and improper physical treat- 
ment are favorable to the denitrifying bacteria but un- 
favorable to the nitrifying bacteria. 

Good tillage retards the action of the harmful bacteria 
and at the same time accelerates the working of the 
beneficial ones — a most important reason why tillage 
never should be neglected. 

The increase of the water-holding content of the soil. — 
Tillage assists soils in securing and in holding water in 
the following ways : By opening the surface crust so that 
water may enter the soil more freely, and by hastening 
percolation that the subsoil may receive more water. 

When the surface crust has been opened by tillage 
tools, water finds lodgment until it gradually sinks into 
the soil, — a most excellent way of preserving what might 
be lost otherwise. Tight-bound soils, with unbroken sur- 
faces, secure no great amount of water, often not enough 
for its many needs. Soils, like the stiff" clays, are enabled 
to secure much more water and to hold it also, if subsoiled 
and fall-plowed. Indeed, this is a splendid treatment to 
give such lands, although subsoiling is quite costly. 

Of course, tight-bound soils that have little air space 
in them, and whose particles are closely pressed together, 
permit slow descent only to all water passing downward. 
This is a condition certainly not desirable, and may be 
remedied and improved in this respect by deep-stirring 
agencies that open and stir and mellow at depths not 
reached by ordinary surface tillage. Our leguminous 
plants are wonderful helpers in this difficulty. 

It is also important to have the soil mellow and fine, 
thereby increasing both the number of particles in the 



THE ROLE THAT TILLAGE PLAYS 97 

soil and amount of spaces between these particles. 
When these things are done, water more freely enters 
and more of it is retained than otherwise would be the 
case were these conditions not to be had. 

Tillage gets rid of weeds. — Good farming can never be 
of high quality if weeds are allowed to have their way; 
and they certainly have their way whenever tillage is 
neglected or whenever plows and harrows and cultivating 
tools are not constantly and consistently used. 

\\'hy are weeds a menace to farming? For these rea- 
sons : They steal from the soil food that should be kept 
and preserved for cultivated plants ; they rol) the soil of 
its water, that should be held for useful plants ; they 
crowd growing plants to their hurt (improved plants are 
less hardy than weeds, for the latter have inherited the 
ability to shift for themselves) ; they shade the land, 
which works injury to many varieties which need all the 
warmth and sunshine they can get. For these reasons, 
weeds are a menace to cultivated crops and for these 
reasons they should be driven from the land. 

Since food and drink are objects of constant thought 
and solicitude and require you to labor day in and day 
out to so treat the soil that both may be amply pro- 
vided, why should weeds be spared ; why consider them 
in any other light than enemies of the disagreeable and 
hateful sort? 

Here is an example : A field planted to corn was divided 
into two sections : on one section, after the second week, 
weeds were allowed to grow, to contest with the corn for 
supremacy : from the first section 82 bushels of shelled 
corn for each acre were harvested, and from the second 
section 17 bushels. The difference represented the hurt- 
ful eft'ects of the w'ced plants that grew in the corn. 

Here are just a few thoughts to remember: 



98 SOILS 

Stir the soil thoughtfully and continually, and it gathers 
in the rains to make abundant growth of plants when 
summer's heat and drought are come; plow the land 
earnestly, and it gives its fat with gladness and with 
bounty ; open the bosom of the soil with the plowshare, 
and health comes to the land and wealth to the operator; 
spare cultivated fields the disgrace of ravaging weeds, and 
golden grain and bountiful harvests come as rewards; 
fine and mellow the earth, and luxuriant vegetation glad- 
dens the heart and rests the eye ; till and always till with 
skillful hand and eye, and Nature deeds her gifts — success 
and prosperity and joy. 



CHAPTER XI 

LIMING THE LAND: A CORRECTIVE FOR ACIDITY 

The use of lime in agriculture, especially its use as a 
soil improver, was known in days of long ago : when 
Rome was young, and Greece was struggling for the su- 
premacy of the world. For Hesiod, the Greek, mentions 
its use in his writings, and Cato and Pliny, keen Roman 
observers, frequently discussed its importance in securing 
the productiveness of the soil. In America, this same ob- 
servation has not been wanting. For more than a century 
in time, lime, as a soil improver, has been advocated by 
successful farmers and planters, who, realizing its value 
in the early agriculture of the country, gave it effectual 
and constant trial, to their satisfaction and profit. 

The kinds of agricultural lime. — The real source of lime 
is in rock formation : out of these formations agricultural 
limes are obtained. The following forms are common: 
limestone rock, magnesia limestone, gypsum or land plas- 
ter, marl, and oyster-shells. 

Ordinary limestone contains about fifty per cent, lime, 
the remaining sul)stances being carbonic acid, silicon, 
iron, magnesium, and aluminum. When burned, the 
product resulting and known as lime is nearly pure, and 
weighs about ninety pounds to the bushel. When water 
slaked, this amount increases to three times the original 
weight. 

Magnesia limestones vary in composition, the best of 
them containing about eighty per cent, of lime. Mag- 
nesia lime may be substituted for ordinary lime as a 

LOFC 



lOO SOILS 



corrective agent for acidity, but it should not be used re- 
peatedly on the same land. 






Note the dense, vigorous growth of clover, almost completely hiding the 
wheat stubble 

Gypsum is found in large deposits, and is rock-like in 
form. For commercial purposes, after being mined, it is 




UNLIMED 
The stubbles were not hid by the clover at the end <if the season 

ground into a fine powder, a form in which it is best 
fitted for use. Although gypsum contains about thirty 



LIMING THE LAND lOI 

per cent, of lime, you should not suljstitute it for ordi- 
nary lime for correcting' acidity in soils. Its effect is 
rather stimulative, aiding in setting free other plant 
foods, notably potash. 

Lime is found, also, in earthy shell deposits — known as 
marls. These occur only in lake and ocean regions, and 
for this reason they are little used outside of the immedi- 
ate locality in which they are found. In composition, 
marls vary greatly : from lo to 50 per cent, of lime being 
available. 

Oyster shells, also, are lime makers. They contain 
about ninety per cent, of lime, which, wdien burned, is 
comparatively pure. Gas lime, now sold extensively as an 
agricultural lime, occurs in this way : quick lime is used 
in gas works for the sole purpose of taking from the gas 
its many impurities. When saturated, and hence no 
longer useful, it is sent away under the name of gas lime, 
to be used as a fertilizer for soils. Gas lime contains, on 
an average of about forty per cent, of lime. Since gas 
lime is often poisonous, it is not desirable for the land. 

What lime does in the soil. — When applied to land, 
lime acts in these ways : it induces chemical activity, 
causes physical change, usually favorably, and supplies a 
plant food element — calcium. In reference to the last, let 
this be said : little evidence points to any conclusion that 
lime is lacking in most soils to such an extent that any 
additional supply is needed for food requirements. While 
it is true that some investigators have been led to believe 
the reverse of this, still their contention is far from being 
proved, and, until fully demonstrated, we shall look for 
the explanation of itg beneficial qualities as being in the 
direction of the chemical and the physical changes that 
take place, occasioned by its presence in the soil. 

How lime acts chemically. — First in importance are its 



102 SOILS 

decomposing effects on the mineral substances of the soil. 
It has been shown by experiment that lime decomposes 
certain compounds in -the soil, thereby releasing stored 
plant food. This is especially true of potassium com- 
pounds secured in the soil silicates. When lime is added 
to the soil, these silicates are decomposed and the potas- 
sium therein is rendered available — plant roots are served 
what heretofore has been denied. You should bear in 
mind, however, that lime has no power for supplying 
potassium : it renders available only such material as al- 
ready is present in the soil. 

Lime works in harmony with the phosphorus com- 
pounds of the soil, also. It does so in this manner: Solu- 
ble phosphorus combines freely with other elements — 
iron and aluminum, for instance. But these are undesir- 
able compounds for the reason that they are insoluble, 
and consequently plants reject them as food. Lime, on 
the other hand, attracts the soluble phosphorus more 
energetically than does iron or aluminum, and so helps 
the plant because the plant fancies the products that lime 
and phosphorus together make. Now, this is a good 
reason why lime should be given freely to the soil. 

You will find, also, that lime is an extremely valuable 
agent in helping the decomposition of organic matter in 
the soil. While organic matter is useful and a necessary 
component of every good soil, still we must not forget 
that much valuable plant food is stored in this organic 
matter, and that a part of it, at least, should be turned 
over to plants each year, its replacement to take place 
subsequently by other and additional donations. Much 
of the nitrogen content of the soil is obtained through this 
destruction of organic matter. Hence, it is well to keep 
this supply in mind. 

Lime promotes good texture. — With old soils, espe- 



LIMING TIIK LAND IO3 

cially, perhaps because the humus has been destroyed, 
the soil texture is bad; plowiiiij is done with difficulty, 
overturned earth is hard, lifeless, and inactive, air and 
water are treated with indifference. The conseciucnce is: 
poor crops are ])r<>duced. When lime is supplied these 
soils in sufficient (piantities, what a wonderful change 
takes ])lace ! /\t once the soils mellow: they lose their 
gruffness, their sourness, their bad behavior: they show 
greater vigor, life becomes apparent again, plants are 
attracted, and more : air and water are differently re- 
ceived, their wholesome inOuence appreciated, and their 
offer of serx'ice accepted. 

Lime influences soil particles. — Just as soon as lime is 
supplied the soil, a change takes place in the position of 
soil particles : they "flocculate" : they gather together in 
little balls. Now, this is just what is needed in order to 
make these tiny i>articles behave in such a manner that 
air and water will be so attracted that both will be willing 
to move freely about in the soil, to the advantage of the 
soil itself, and to the advantage of plant roots that are 
living there. 

When a condition like this is secured, extremes of dry 
or wet weather will influence the soil in a much less 
degree than otherwise would be the case, were it soil- 
bound, inactive, and lifeless. It is stated that one part of 
lime is able to flocculate and clear 10,000 parts of muddy 
water. You can understand readily the effectiveness of 
an entire ton of lime in the average soil which weighs in 
its surface six inches but 900 tons per acre. 

Lime is a corrective for acidity. — One of the most 
wholesome influences that lime l)rings to the soil is its 
sweetening effect : its driving away of sourness — the acid 
condition of the soil. When decomposition is taking place 
in the soil, acid substances are formed and so remain, 



104 SOILS 

unless they are able to combine Avith other substances 
that eliminate or render impotent this acid effect. We 
have a number of substances that can be used to correct 
this acidity, among which may be mentioned lime and 
wood ashes. Both of these substances are good, but lime 
is usually the cheapest, the most available and easiest to 
apply ; hence, its use as a corrective for acidity is most 
often mentioned. Soils most likely to be found sour are : 
heavy clay soils, when poorly drained ; soils abundantly 
supplied with organic matter ; soils that have been poorly 
tilled, and consequently air-hungered ; and soils deficient 
in humus but kept at work by mineral substances, like 
kainit, muriate of potash, and acid phosphate. When lime 
is applied to soils of such nature, its wholesome influence 
is manifest at once. In this connection the beneficial in- 
fluence of lime on the availability of nitrogen is of inter- 
est. It has been shown by Wheeler at the Rhode Island 
Station that lime exerts a direct benefit to plant growth 
by overcoming soil acidity, and in doing so, increases the 
assimilability of the soil nitrogen. Hence, we have an 
improvement of the physical condition of the soil and 
also an increase in availability of plant nutrition. 

How acidity may be detected. — Does your soil look sad 
and sickly? If so, it may need lime. Does your soil fail 
to produce vigorous growth and good color in the plants 
it grows? If so, it probably needs lime. Does your soil 
show acidity when tested? If so, it truly needs lime. 

Suppose 3^ou try this method for detecting acidity : Get 
a penny's worth of blue litmus paper at the drug store. 
Dig from the field a handful of wet earth that looks sus- 
picious ; into this insert your knife blade, and in the open- 
ing put a strip of the blue litmus paper, and press the soil 
tightly about it. If sour, in a short time the paper, where 
in contact with the moist soil, will become reddish in 



LIMING THE LAND I05 

color and you may know that 30iir soil is sour and that 
lime is needed as a corrective for the acidity, for the 
reason that most of our plants do but poorly in acid 
soils. 

How lime may be applied. — A common way that is 
practicable and inexpensive is to place from 10 to 25 
bushels of lime on an acre, in heaps of two or three 




USING THE LIME SPREADER 
As soon as the lime is applied it should be harrowed into the soil 

bushels, coverins^ with soil or old sacks until the lime 
falls apart and becomes thorout^hly slaked. This done, 
you should spread evenly over the soil and harrow in. 

A more satisfactory method is to slake by means of 
water, and as soon as in a ])()wdery state, apply to the 
land and at once incorporate with the soil, not by the 
plow, for that places it too deep in the soil, but by some 
surface-working: harrow or cultivator. 



Io6 SOILS 

The lime-spreading machine now does very excellent 
work, and has been so improved that it will very likely 
supersede all other methods of applying lime to the soil. 
It has this point in its favor: the work can be done 
quickly ; it can be done while lime is still in a fresh state 
and before it loses its active properties. And here is an- 
other fact you should remember: incorporate lime into 
the soil by means of a harrow as soon as applied. You 
will make a mistake if you wait for a rain, for it may be 
long in coming. Unless a very heavy rain falls, so as to 
carry the lime applied into the soil, you will likely lose 
much of its value, since it readily returns to its carbonate 
nature — its state before it was burned when locked in 
store. 

How much lime to use? How frequently? — Sand soils 
are influenced most favorably by rather small applications 
of lime; say, from 200 to 1,000 pounds per acre of slaked 
lime and twice the quantity if either ground limestone or 
ashes are used. It is believed that slaked lime long ex- 
posed to the air is best for sand soils. Larger applications 
of lime may be given clay soils — from 400 to 2,000 pounds. 
For such soils, burned limestone and water-slaked lime 
are preferred, usually, before cither ashes or ground lime- 
stone. 

Lime may be applied every five or six years, using it 
before the crop in the rotation that is most helped by the 
application. 

Lime is helpful to bacteria. — You will recall the fre- 
quent allusions that have been made to the bacterial life 
of the soil ; to the presence of immense quantities of those 
microscopic plants that always are working for the im- 
provement of soils ; that plant food may be rendered 
available ; that air nitrogen may be gathered in and se- 
cured for on-coming years; that the entire body of the 



LIMING THE LAND IO7 

soil may be bettered and improved. But do you know 
these useful kinds are active only when the soil is free of 
acid, or is neutral in its reaction? If this is true, then 
we cannot expect these good fairies of the soil to do 
their work, unless we do our part and get rid of this dis- 
tasteful enemy. Our legumes — root tubercle plants — 
quickly disappear from any soil where an acid condition 
prevails. 

Not many years ago we heard much about "clover sick" 
soils. We know more about these now: some were acid 
soils, and clover disliked them ; root tubercles failed to 
develop because the bacteria were unable to thrive or 
even live in such soils; and, without bacteria, there could 
be no formation of the nodules, and without the nodules, 
there could be no vigorous growth of the clover plant. 
Just as soon as lime was used freely enough to correct 
the acid condition, bacteria returned to these lands and 
the clover plant jjrospered as it had done in former days, 
when the land was sweet and wholesome, and filled with 
an abundance of vegetable matter. 

If it is 3'our plan to employ leguminous crops in your 
system of farming, so that needed nitrogen may be 
secured fully and without cost to you, it will be to your 
profit and advantage to guard against an acid condition 
of your lands ; for the tiny forms of plant life that multiply 
and grow and develop in the soil are the direct means of in- 
creasing the yields of the useful crops that grow out of it. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE QUEST OF NITROGEN 

"With the closing of each decade, some new discovery- 
has been given the world, some new thought has been 
launched that has borne its fruit e'er Time went far on 
his journey again. It has been so in science and it is so 
in agriculture. 

Men are ever seekers after truth. Their quest has been 
for it throughout all time, and in every direction. As a 
result of this quest, philosophy is the better, art is the 
better, government is the better, science is the better, law 
is the better, and all men are the better. 

The quest of truth has gone on from the very beginning 
of time ; it has led out in every imaginable direction. But 
the surprise of many is this : the postponement of the 
pursuit of the practical until recent periods in human 
progress. Especially has this been true of the practical 
arts, and of agriculture. And yet all the while the world 
has been dependent upon the soil for its bread, for its 
raiment, for its shelter; and back of these is the control- 
ling influence of the nitrogen of the soil. 

The quest of nitrogen is of comparatively recent times ; 
but once its story learned and its truth established, the 
solution of its mystery becomes a most valuable contribu- 
tion to crop production and to soil maintenance, as well 
as a most powerful force in a new agriculture. 

Farming in a broad way, now, is being built upon the 
legumes : the tiller of the soil is becoming a legume 
farmer. This state of affairs has resulted in recent years, 
only; in fact, since the publication in 1886 of the 



THE QUEST OF NITROGEN 100 

researches of Hcllricgel and Wilfarth, who set forth with 
a great array of facts the way in which nitros^n is ac- 
cumulated and fixed in the soiL While there were in- 
vestigators before this time who through study and 
research had got an inkling of the true secret, they could 
not find the key that unlocked it. Since the door was 
opened by these agricultural wealth-makers an abun- 
dance of evidence had accumulated, showing, without a 
shadow of doubt, the manner in which the stores of free 
nitrogen of the air are utilized in plant nutrition. 

The free nitrogen of the air, you know, is not available 
plant food. No agricultural plant of itself can secure this 
air element for its use — not a wee bit of it. Of course, 
many men, and some very learned men, at that, believed 
in the early days just the opposite, but they have been 
proven in the wrong, and at last the true solution of this 
knotty problem has been found, and solved in a way of 
the highest value to every man who manages land and 
who employs the methods open to him, that his poor- 
yielding fields may be restored to power, and their fer- 
tility and that of others fully maintained in respect to 
nitrogen. 

The story of the secret's discovery. — To have the com- 
plete story of the fixation of nitrogen, we shall have to go 
back quite a good way in history ; back to the time when 
chemistry first appeared as an exact science ; back to the 
time when it was believed that all plant substances came 
from the soil : we shall have to go back to these days, in 
order to know the early theories of plant nutrition. Only 
the real guide-mark theories will be introduced, that the 
development of the idea of nitrogen fixation in the soil 
and its use by plants may be clearly understood. 

These important guide-mark theories are as follows: 

I. That all plant-food elements come from the soil. 



no SOILS 

2. That nitrogen is secured by plants through the ab- 
sorption of soluble organic substances. 

3. That nitrogen is due wholly to the atmosphere : the 
Liebig "mineral theory." 

4. That neither legumes nor cereals are able to "fix" the 
nitrogen of the air. 

5. That leguminous plants get their nitrogen from the 
atmosphere and others do not. 

6. That the soil, aided by microscopic vegetation, gath- 
ers free nitrogen from the air. 

7. That bacteria in the root nodules are responsible for 
the fixation of nitrogen and the transfer of it to the plant. 

The first theory: All elements came from the soil. — 
Until science was ready to devote itself, in a measure, at 
least, to some practical problem, like a study of soils, 
plants, or animals, progress could be slow only, and 
theory of little value save in a most indirect way. Until 
proof might be furnished, that should contain a grain of 
fact or evidence as we consider such to-day, suggestions 
would be of value, only, in that they occasionally worked 
in sympathy with the governing law, unknown in what 
manner or how, to the author, or to the disciple that fol- 
lowed and practiced his philosophy. Evidence in these 
cases were coincidences, only and of no further value. 

The second theory : Plants absorb soluble organic sub- 
stances. — The theory of absorption, in the light of knowl- 
edge on these subjects, had some reasonableness about 
it. This theory declared that only soluble organic sub- 
stances were available as food for plants ; that as such 
plants secured their food ; that organic substances fur- 
nished not only the nitrogen but all other substances as 
well. And to a certain extent these ideas were correct. 
The fault of this theory lay in its incompleteness. For 
the mineral supply of food was quite overlooked : only 



THE QUEST OF NITROGEN III 

soluble organic matter innuenced crops' growth. This 
view was held by some investigators — De Saussure par- 
ticularly advocating it. It was overthrown, however, 
when Liebig proposed his mineral theory. 

Liebig's theory: so-called "mineral theory." — The 
author of this theory was the real beginner in chemistry, 
as applied to things agricultural. He worked with soils ; 
he studied many agricultural plants; he devoted a great 
part of his useful life to many problems of plant nutrition. 
His theory held that only the ash or mineral substance 
used by plants is obtained from the soil ; that the carbon, 
as well as the nitrogen, is secured by the plant from the 
atmosphere — the great storehouse of these materials. 
Liebig contended that when mineral substances are abun- 
dant, either through nature or through other supply, 
maximum yields will result, other things being provided, 
regardless of the quantity of potential nitrogen in the 
soil. He further claimed that if an abundance of the 
necessary minerals is present, the plant will be well able 
to take care of itself, and by its own efforts secure just 
as much nitrogen as is required from the nitrogen com- 
pounds of the air that are washed down in rain, snow and 
hail, as is required for every need of the plant. For did 
not the leguminous plants show this? He thought so. H 
the cereals failed to do likewise in soils apparently no 
worse, it was solely because minerals were present in- 
sufificiently to supply the plant with its requirements ; and, 
because of this fact, these cereal plants were rendered 
somewhat impotent in their ability to get what nitrogen 
they needed. This mineral theory simply meant this : 
put minerals into the soil, and the plant will be strong and 
vigorous, and quite able to secure its nitrogen, irrespect- 
ive of the supply of the soil. 

The theory of non-fixation : no plants "fix" atmospheric 



112 SOILS 

nitrogen. — Boussingault already had shown, even before 
Liebig had formulated and promulgated his mineral the- 
ory, that there were considerable differences between 
yields of certain groups of plants, and especially that 
there were noticeable differences in the nitrogen obtained, 
when cereals and leguminous crops were grown. He had 
ascertained, also, that when leguminous crops were intro- 
duced, either before or after cereals in any plan of rota- 
tion, a greater quantity of nitrogen was secured during 
the growth of the leguminous crop than during the 
growth of any cereal crop, and this was the case when 
additional manure was supplied. 

Liebig was led at this time to revise the theory he had 
maintained heretofore, by declaring that cereals of all 
kinds must secure their nitrogen from the soils or from 
some supplied fertilizer containing this element. 

At this stage of investigation other workers came into 
the field, notable among whom were Lawes and Gilbert 
in England. These men carried on experiments quite 
similar in nature to those of Boussingault, and which 
seemed to show that the only source of nitrogen supply is 
from the soil ; in other words, that no cultivated plant is 
able either to secure free nitrogen of the air, or to estab- 
lish it in the soil for future use. It is able to secure it only 
as it does mineral elements : from the compounds of the 
soil, or from fertilizing compounds supplied with the soil. 

The theory of differences : legumes not like cereals and 
others. — While the theory of non-fixation of atmospheric 
nitrogen by any kind of plant generally prevailed (until 
the true solution was given by Hellriegel and Wilfarth), 
still there were some among the workers who were not 
satisfied ; and it is to their agitation and to their unwill- 
ingness to accept the interpretations of the results that all 
former theories were proved incorrect and the truth of 



THE QUEST OF NITROGEN 



113 



the matter finally was given the world. These men were 
wide observers : they included the field, as well as the 
laboratory, the fertile soil and the infertile soil, summer 
crops and winter crops ; they sought the truth, and would 
not be comforted so long as a single doubt remained. For 
did not every field trial show that the legume produced 




A MAGNIFICENT CROP OF BEANS 

Legumes subsoil the land, contribute to the humus stores and add nitrogen to 

the soil 



abundantly, although in these same soils the cereal pro- 
duced indifferently? Was it not true that in every case 
where a legume occupied the land for a few years, when 
succeeded by a cereal, a marked increase was apparent 
over similar soil, unoccupied previously by some crop not 
a legume? So spoke V'oelcher with conviction: the 



114 SOILS 

atmosphere furnished nitrogen to the clover plant. So 
spoke Ville : the free nitrogen of the atmosphere becomes 
food for clover "and for some other plants. 

But the difference was not explained, for at that time it 
could not be explained. The time was still unripe. 

Enter the microscopic plant : soil assistants in nitrogen- 
getting. — Now comes Ijcrthelot, a French investigator, 
with the theory that in the soil there are great numbers 
of microscopic plants, living in the soil and belonging to 
the soil, in fact, being a part of the soil itself; that these 
are useful and valuable plants, small though they may be ; 
and that these tiny plants do this thing: they help the 
soil secure atmospheric nitrogen, and help it in such a 
way that all plants growing therein get the good of it. 
And Berthelot was right so far as he went, for he started 
in the direction in which the true explanation was later 
found. 

The concluding theory : the secret of the root tubercle. 
This entire mystery was cleared at last by Hellriegel and 
Wilfarth, who found, by their investigations, that certain 
plants, like cereals and grasses, within limits, grow in pro- 
portion to the amount of plant food supplied — including 
nitrogen. If an abundance of mineral elements and nitro- 
gen was supplied the soil, there was secured always a 
most bountiful harvest; if, on the other hand, nitrogen, 
for instance, was withheld, a feeble growth, only, re- 
sulted, if, indeed, a lingering death did not actually take 
place. 

With the legumes — clover, lupines, peas, beans, etc. — a 
different liehavior was observed. Instead of dying, when 
the nitrogen content was consumed, these plants recov- 
ered, very rapidly, indeed, and until maturity, maintained 
a most luxurious growth. And this condition prevailed 
despite the fact that no nitrogen compound of any sort 



THE OUKST OF NITUOC.EN II5 

was g^ivcn the i)lants or a<l(lc(l to the soil, cither before 
planting- or durins:^ any staij^e of i^rowth. 

These observers noticed a j)eculiarity — the key of the 
secret — that others, also, doubtless, had observed, but 
who failed to connect the same to the theory of plant 
feedin*;- atid i)lant growth. The ])ecu]iarity which they 
included in their studies was the characteristic growths or 
nodules that persistently associated themselves with the 
roots of every leguminous plant. 

A final proof of their theory was secured in this way: 
They used sand that had been made sterile in every way : 
all organic matter was destroyed, and, of course, every 
kind of microscopic vegetation was killed — no bacterium 
of any kind was present in the soil. Some legume seeds 
were now planted. Just as soon as the nitrogen of the 
seed was exhausted, starvation manifested itself, and the 
plants began their decline. At this point, a water extract 
prepared from untreated soil — just ordinary garden soil — 
was added, but only a small quantity was used. In a very 
short time these starving plants began their improve- 
ment : they recovered their wholesome, natural color, as- 
sumed a vigorous, lusty growth, and reached full de- 
velopment, with no suggestion from that time on that any 
struggle or hardship had ever been a part of their exist- 
ence. 

Of course, the succor which came at the opportune time 
was none other than the friendly water solution that con- 
tained the germs fitted by nature to gather nitrogen from 
the wandering air in the soil, and to transfer it to the 
starving plants. 

Experiments, variously planned and prosecuted, were 
from now on in order. They served only to verify the 
concluding theory. The secret, at last, was learned, the 
mystery penetrated, and a new idea given the world. A 



1 1 6 SOILS 

wonderful achievement it was ! And immeasurable in its 
results ! 

Has any statesman ever constructed a theor}^ so useful? 
Has any politician ever devised a policy so far-reaching 
in its results? Has any soldier, with legions behind him, 
ever won so glorious a conquest? 

Modestly, unassuming, and painstakingly, these men 
have labored, and have left to the world a legacy of untold 
worth, of unequaled largeness, and of most lasting endur- 
ance : one that shall be shared by all men alike, whether 
they be old or young, rich or poor, learned or unlearned. 
So long as men plow and sow, so long as men need bread 
and meat, so long as nations live and survive, so long 
shall the names of Liebig, of Boussingault, of Lawes and 
Gilbert, of Hellriegel and Wilfarth be honored and es- 
teemed and glorified as world benefactors and as beacon 
lights of the human race. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE RELEASE OF SOIL NITROGEN: THE RETURN TO 

THE AIR 

A very close relationship exists between the soil, the 
plant, and the animal. Each must perform its work that 
the other two may do their part. 

Nature has just a simple plan: she stores in the soil 
and air the elements that plants require : she hands these 
same elements on to animals through the plant ; for in 
the animal body are found the same chemical elements 
that are present in the plant. Plants, however, must come 
first : they gather from soil and air simple compounds 
from which they manufacture other compounds more 
complex in nature — just such materials as animals need. 
For all higher animals, you know, get their food either 
through eating plants or eating other animals that feed 
on plants. Hence, animal life is dependent either directly 
or indirectly on plant life for sustenance. Then the ani- 
mal dies ; maybe the plant dies : out of their decay and 
decomposition soil is made again or reenforced ; air is 
given back the compounds it previously had lent the plant 
during its stage of growth, and of plant building. Thus 
the plant depends for food on materials stored in the 
plant, in the soil, and in the air; and the soil and air 
depend for their normal suppl}^ of elemental things on the 
plant and animal. 

Here is the cycle : out of soil grows the plant, out of 
the plant grows the animal ; from the plant and animal 
develops the soil. 

Life and death. — Both life and death are concerned in 



Il8 SOILS 

this purpose of organization and disorganization : the 
first, an organization of simple materials into complex 
substances that animal life may be possible ; the second, 
a disorganization of complex substances into simple 
forms that soils may be fertile, and that plants may feed 
well and properly. 

Two constructive elements. — In all life processes, two 
constructive elements — carbon and nitrogen — are espe- 
cially active, llie first of these, as we have learned, is 
obtained from the air, only — from the atmospheric zone 
in which leaves perform their important work in plant 
building. We have learned, also, that carbon, as used by 
plants, is combined always with oxygen, in what the 
chemist calls carbon dioxide : one part carbon and two 
parts oxygen, hence the formula CO,. An abundance of 
this compound always is present in the atmosphere, so 
much so, in fact, that plants are never carbon-starved, are 
never even threatened with a scarcity. For this reason, 
carbon supply is never a problem that concerns the 
farmer. He neither needs to know of the wanderings or 
of the duties of carbon. It is one of the elements, that, on 
all occasions, takes care of itself. Our interest, however, 
is here : carbon is our greatest constructive element, and 
the most abundantly used in the making of every organic 
compound. 

The nitrogen problem more important. — In the case of 
nitrogen we have a different problem, and for this reason : 
plants get their nitrogen only from the soil. True, bac- 
teria, when present in the soil, help in this work, with 
some kinds of plants, but when not present, these favored 
sorts are no better fitted to secure this needed element 
than are the less favored ones. 

The two forms in which nitrogen is used by plants are : 
as nitrates and ammonium salts. The first finds immedi- 



THE RELEASE OF SOIL NITROGEN 119 

ate acceptance by plants, and the latter, also, althou£^h 
not to the same degree — maybe only after passing into a 
nitrate form. 

The fact that nitrogen is a soil constituent, and one that 
is easily and continually lost, makes the control of the 
nitrogen supply the most serious problem of crop pro- 
duction. 

Original sources of the nitrogen of the soil. — The fol- 
lowing are important sources of the nitrogen that plants 
use: 

1. Organic matter from both the plant and the animal. 

2. Ammonia that is given by air, rain, and snow. 

3. Free nitrogen of the air that bacteria fix in the soil. 

4. The chemical salts supplied from other places. 

It matters not in just what form the nitrogen supply is 
obtained. The two great sources of this supply are : or- 
ganic matter and the bacterial contributions. 

Organic matter must be torn apart. — If the stores of 
plant food, locked in organic matter, are to be of benefit 
to future generations of plants, it is necessary for the 
many compounds contained therein to be destroyed : or- 
ganized compounds must be torn apart and broken down 
into simpler substances. This work is done by decom- 
position, by decay and putrefaction, as we call them. 
The former takes place in the presence of air — when an 
abundance of oxygen is found and the latter only in the 
absence of much oxygen. 

The agents back of these performances are bacteria — 
tiny little plants that, unaided, neither eye can see nor 
ear can hear, as they go on with their work, performing 
their simple duties and their essential labors. 

And what do you think they are working for? Simply 
carbon. They must have it. Just as bird or beast or man 
looks to starch and fat and protein for life and suste- 



I20 



SOILS 



nance — for the carbon compounds that give heat and 
energy, so do bacteria look to some similar substance in 
the soil for their supply. These little creatures are unable, 
of course, to take their supply in just the way that the 




TWO KINDS OF BACTERIA FOUND IN DECAYING VEGETABLE MATTER 
(after Pfeiffer) 



higher forms do : they have a way of their own. And 
why not? They pull compounds to pieces, they seize 
the carbohydrate therein held, and on it feed that their 
needs may be supplied. Naturally, then, when bacteria 
feed, they destroy organic matter. Organic compounds, 
since they are dead, no longer are able to resent and resist 
these attacks, consequently fall apart and sink into lower 
forms, at last to be destroyed entirely as a component 
structure. It is just the old story in reality: dust to dust 
and ashes to ashes. The plant dies, the animal dies — or- 
ganic forms disappear and become mingled with the dust 
of the fields; and this becomes rich and fertile because 
of the dead therein enclosed : because bacteria have done 
their WQrk well. 



THE RELEASE OF SOIL NITROGEN 



121 



>/ «H 

BACTEKIAUSUALLY FOUNDIN 
DECAYING ORGANIC MATTER 

A. B. Mycoides: B B. Stutzeri 
(after Conn) 



These bacteria are everywhere present. — It is only re- 
cently that these bacteria have been introduced to us in 
a manner fitting their importance and even to-day we 
scarcely know them. Yet we are 
assured that whenever decay and 
putrefaction take place, there large 
numbers of these busy bodies are 
at work : some kinds down deep 
in the soil, where little oxygen 
finds its way ; others near the sur- 
face of the ground, where air and 
food are more abundant ; some 
kinds with vegetable substances, 
which peculiarly attract them ; 
and still others with animal compounds, which meet their 
fancy. In fact, you will find these bacteria almost every- 
where : in air, in water, in milk, in all 
vegetable and animal products, in the 
soil. When much available organic 
matter is at hand, these bacteria eat 
greedily and multiply rapidly, but when 
food is no longer available, they rest 
and sleep and wait until more appears. 
Without bacteria there would be no 
decay. — Of course, this work must be 
done if plants are to be supplied with 
food. W ithout these bacteria, the by- 
products of the farm — manures, vege- 
table matter, waste and roughage of 
all kinds — would only accumulate, 
never decay. The soil would lose its lending power be- 
cause its capital would be exhausted, and no means 
would be available that its replenishment might take 
place. 




HACTERIA FOUND IN 

DECAYING ANIMAL 

TISSUE 

(after Conn) 



122 SOILS 

The evil in bacteria. — So far, we have seen good only in 
bacteria : they destroy ten thousand useless things that, 
otherwise, would trouble man and load him continuously 
with burdens and difficulties. It is impossible to estimate 
the value or the extent of this useful work. But for all 
the good they do, bacteria have an evil side : they send 
nitrogen away from the soil. This must be said, how- 
ever : that while decay and putrefaction bacteria have the 
power of freeing nitrogen from its compounds in the soil, 
they do so only to a limited extent, and only very 
slightly, indeed, where the tiller of the soil properly co- 
operates with them. 

There are some forms of bacteria in the soil that make 
it their chief business to free nitrogen. They do this not 
because they have any spite against plants or animals, 
but simply in order that they may live. Here is the rea- 
son : they need some carbohydrate — a carbon compound — 
for food ; this they get from the organic substances that 
have been sent to the soil. But they need, also, some 
oxygen just as the higher plants. If air is not present in 
the soil — it is excluded often by water or bad texture — 
oxygen becomes in demand. But from whence may it 
be secured? These bacteria have found a way through 
the long, long line of their antecedents : they simply seek 
out nitrogen compounds — compounds that contain both 
nitrogen and oxygen — and extract from them the oxygen 
they need, at the same time rejecting any nitrogen asso- 
ciated with it there. This nitrogen, now released, escapes 
its prison, rises into air, sails away, and becomes lost to 
the soil until trapped again by other bacteria — the good 
fairies that do this philanthropic act. 

Denitrification : the nitrogen-freeing process. — The 
first effort in freeing nitrogen is that of changing the 
nitrates into the next simpler form, the nitrites. Not just 



THE RELEASE OF SOIL NITROGEN I23 

one bacterium does this : bacteriologists tell us that a 
dozen or more kinds have been detected at this bad 
work. If some nitrogen compound, like sodium nitrate 
(NaNOg), is present in the soil, these denitrifying bac- 
teria, as a first step, seize onto it and take nitrogen there- 
from, reducing the compound — sodium nitrate (NaNOs) 




SOME BACTERIA THAT CAUSE THE FERMENTATION OF URINE 
(after Beijerinck) 

— to a nitrite (NaNOo). At this point in the reduction, 
another group of bacteria attack the compound — now 
sodium nitrite (NaNOg) — and obtain the rest of the oxy- 
gen, thereby setting the nitrogen free. The same is true 
of ammonia : either these same reducing bacteria or 
others similar in nature act upon ammonia salts in a way 
that frees the nitrogen from its combination, consequently 
causing its loss to the soil. 

The significance of this is striking: it means that the 
most costly, as well as the most important, fertilizing 
element has dejjarted to the air, where it possesses no 
value to either plant or animal. 

What the farmer may do. — A very comforting fact, on 



124 SOILS 

the other hand, has been discovered. It is this : Denitrify- 
ing bacteria are slow workers when oxygen finds its way 
freely into the soil or wherever decomposition takes 
place. 

If this be true, is it not good farming to till so carefully 
the land that air may find easy access to all parts of 
it? If water excludes air from the soil, is it not in line of 
good practice to get rid of it by drainage? 

Certainly, this is the best method of battle. And a 
method that allows nitrates to accumulate and that weak- 
ens the ravages of all forms of reducing bacteria. The con- 
clusion, then, is this : if nitrates and ammonium salts — 
the forms that just suit plant roots — are to be protected 
in the soil, it is necessary to loosen and fine and open the 
land to air and oxygen. If these plant foods are to be 
increased, organic matter must be added in abundance 
but with this caution : you must send air into the soil ; 
you must till it ; you must drain it well ; you must make 
its texture of the highest quality. And then plants will 
like this soil as a home. In it, organic matter quickly 
will be decomposed, and at the same time, the nitrogen- 
supply content increased and protected, because that soil 
is mellow and open and of good tilth ; because the things 
that do good and discountenance the evil of the nitrogen- 
liberating bacteria, have been secured and supplied with 
great abundance. 

Who shall withhold this method of nitrogen increase 
and nitrogen protection ? This great power is in your 
hands. Who shall hinder you from using it. 

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 



CHAPTER XIV 

NITRIFICATION: NITROGEN MADE READY FOR 
PLANTS 

Every one familiar with the growing of crops knows 
that organic matter, when thoroughly decomposed and 
mixed Avith the soil, increases the producing power of 
the land ; especially is this the case when nitrogen com- 
pounds are present in considerable quantities. 

We have discussed the manner in which organic mat- 
ter is decomposed in the soil. Bacteria do the work : 
they break into pieces every sort of organized life. A 
question now arises : What becomes of these simpler 
forms, now pulled apart and disorganized? One phase 
of this question has been answered already : some of the 
nitrogen has been given freedom : it has disappeared 
from the soil. The mineral substances, that were con- 
tained in the organic matter, are left in the soil. They 
cannot get away into the air. They will be available at 
once to plants, or else lost through drainage waters. 
I'hey may join with other elemental forms already in the 
soil, and so remain until called into use by the enticing 
demands of future generations of plants. 

The carbon compounds remain either in the soil or re- 
turn to the air as rapidly as they are released from their 
combinations by decomposition bacteria. This departure 
may be in the form of marsh gas or of carbon dioxide. 
In either case, it offers no service to growing plants so 
long as it remains in the soil. 

We now reach the important part of our question, and 
out of it grows a second. What becomes of the nitrogen 



126 SOILS 

compounds that remain in the soil? That we shall at- 
tempt to answer now. 

Just after decay nitrogen compounds are not ready for 
plants. — When nitrogen compounds are reduced from 
their complex forms — plant or animal tissue — by decom- 
position bacteria, they are unavailable plant food, still. 
They must be made to combine with more nitrogen : they 
must be oxidized. Scientific men call this process nitrifi- 
cation. Organic compounds of nitrogen, when applied to 
the soil and decomposed, eventually oxidize to a nitrate, 
and then become usable plant food. 

The chemical process. — In this disorganization of the 
higher and complex compounds, nitrogen compounds, 
like those of other elements, are reduced to more simple 
ones, reaching, finally, a point where nitric acid is formed. 
This acid now unites with bases or metals, producing 
compounds now known as nitrates. The common ni- 
trates are: potassium nitrate (KNO.), sodium nitrate 
(NaNOg), calcium nitrate (Ca(N03)2), and ammonia 
nitrate (NH^NOg). 

Nitrification is a biological process. — Nitrification, at 
first, was thought to be a chemical process. The chemist 
had learned that he could do this same work in his labo- 
ratory : he could oxidize, under certain conditions, nitrous 
bodies into nitric acid bodies : he could oxidize unavail- 
able plant food into available nitrogen plant food. But, 
in recent days, many things have been discovered about 
soil bacteria. Further study has revealed the fact, that 
some of these many busy bodies of the soil are back of 
this oxidization process : some of them cause nitrification : 
some of them change unavailable nitrogen into the desired 
form. 

One way of proving this theory is this : secure a sam- 
ple of soil which when mixed, divide into two parts. One 



NITRIFICATION \2.'J 

lot now is sterilized by heating", that all bacteria may be 
killed. The other lot is undisturbed. Both lots are 
treated alike in all other respects from now on. When 
compared later, it will be found that the treated lot 
shows no increase of nitrates — of available food ; while 
the other lot — where bacteria were permitted to go on — 
shows an increase in this respect. Hence, nitrification, 
now, is believed to be a biological process : to be actually 
caused, governed and controlled by the bacterial life of 
the soil. Moreover, it is a two-fold process, for the rea- 
son that two sets of bacteria are 

at work. One set oxidizes am- ^ ^ OT 

monium compounds into ni- * ^i'J^ „^ 'ift*^ 

trous acid — nitrite ; the other 

oxidizes the nitrites mto ni- -•/*- *^ •• •• 

I 

NITRIFYING BACTERIA 



;>> "^-i. 



'^ * » \f% 

trates — the final form. A Rus- '•-•••* •-*"!.* c 

sian scientist has demonstrated y/ Sr'** 
that these two sets are com- 



pletely separated, that neither A.-Nitrococcus 

crosses the line into the other's «• ^"'^(^f^i^r c'onnr'^"^ 
territory, that each class does 

its own work, only. In short, that neither class is able to 
do the other's work, even if it would do so. 

The bacteria that cause nitrification. — These workers 
are known now as nitrobacteria. The two classes are : 
Nitrous bacteria, called also nitrosomonus, and nitric 
bacteria, called also nitrobacter. As stated before, ni- 
trous bacteria begin the work of nitrification : they 
change ammonium compounds into nitrites. When this 
is done, their work stops : they go no farther, for they 
cannot. However, nitrification is not stopped, for at 
this point the nitric bacteria take up the work, change 
nitrites into nitrates, thereby completing the work origi- 
nally begun by putrefaction bacteria. 



128 SOILS 

A striking peculiarity of the nitrobacter is this : they 
need no organic food. So far as now known, they com- 
prise the only living form that is able to live in an envi- 
ronment wholly devoid of organic matter. Decomposi- 
tion bacteria cease their labors when the organic matter 
IS used up, but these, the nitrobacteria, only begin their 
work when such becomes the case, and so this is proved : 
nitrifying bacteria are inactive in the presence of organic 
matter for they labor only when it has been completely 
destroyed. 

Nitrogen-starved soils may contain much nitrogen. — 
All agricultural soils contain some nitrogen. Some may 
show considerable quantities and others but little. And 
often the latter class produce the best crops. A question 
naturally arises : why is this so? In the first place, other 
conditions being secured, crops are dependent upon a 
plentiful supply of nitrates in the soil. These, as has 
been shown, pass through various changes before reach- 
ing the final usable state. Nitrogen compounds may be 
present in the soil in great abundance, but until these 
are changed to nitrates, they are useless to plants. Hence, 
nitrification is essential. The bacteria must be stimulated 
in this work. It may be, decomposition of the organic 
supplies is slow ; if so, decomposition bacteria must be 
induced to work with more energy. Tillage may help ; 
lime may help. But the fault may be elsewhere : the 
decomposition bacteria may have completed their effort ; 
they may have done every bit of work possible to do. 
Maybe the nitrobacteria — the nitrifying agents — are at 
fault. They must be induced to greater effort. If the 
soil is acid, the explanation is at hand, for these bacteria 
never work in sour lands. Liming the land may answer 
the question. And then tillage will help. It will admit 
the air, which certainly can do no harm, for air is just 



NITRIFICATION 1 29 

about as important as anything in way of favoring both 
the agents and the work they perform. Now, we may 
be certain of this fact: any soil that freely provides ni- 
trates as a result of active nitrifications is in a high state 
of culture : it is ideal in physical condition and most 
highly remunerative when considered from every stand- 
point of land management and crop production. Every 
effort that induces nitrification in stubborn soils is re- 
warded by increased crops. Back of good crops is active 
nitrification and back of nitrification is vigorous bacterial 
life : back of all these are good tilth and good texture. 

The evil and the good bacteria. — You will wonder just 
how this combat that is taking place continually between 
the denitrifying and the nitrifying bacteria will end. 
Thanks to the bacteriologist, we are able with consider- 
able accuracy to answer the question. And the answer 
is not unfavorable to the nitrifying bacteria. It is well 
that we have these two classes well in mind. One class 
seeks liberty for nitrogen : it would set it free and send 
it from the soil. The other class would hold it tight, 
fast secure it in some nitrate, and there keep it until the 
plant roots come to take it away. Whenever organic 
matter is present in the soil, denitrification is taking place. 
If the nitrates are there, these tormenting things seek 
them out and tear them to pieces, and in so doing they 
let the nitrogen go. Just as soon, however, as this or- 
ganic matter is used up, the nitrifying germs advance 
boldly to the front, the denitrifying germs withdraw, and 
nitrate-making goes on as before. It is well to keep in 
mind this suggestion : do not add any large quantity of 
organic matter to the soil when any considerable amount 
of nitrate is there present, for if you do, the nitrate will 
be reduced and much nitrogen will secure its escape from 
the soil. It is far better to supply fresh organic matter 



130 SOILS 

at that time of the year, when the soil is most nearly- 
exhausted of its nitrate stores. 

Observe how nature does : when lands have produced 
their harvests, they are low in nitrates — so nature brings 
in cold and frost and death. Organic matter is sent back 
to the soil from whence it came ; and while winter storms 
and blows, and later passes into the warmer circle of 
spring, denitrification is not unlikely taking place, where 
no call is made for nitrates, for few plants are needing 
them. Consequently, when the time comes, when greater 
stores are necessary, the organic matter has been de- 
stroyed, leaving denitrifying bacteria largely inactive, and 
careless, and at the same time unmindful of the accumu- 
lation of nitrates by the nitrifying bacteria, now busy 
at work, and concentrating every efifort to secure a maxi- 
mum quantity of every fruiting plant. 

What these facts teach. — A knowledge of the way in 
which these many kinds of bacteria work ought to help 
in lessening nitrogen loss, in stimulating nitrifying bac- 
teria into activity, and in increasing the yields of crops. In 
the first place, it is a mistake to incorporate raw organic 
matter with the soil, when the nitrate stores are already 
there in considerable quantities. It is also a mistake to 
apply organic matter some time previously to land where 
crops soon must fructify, for the reason that denitrifying 
bacteria may use more of the nitrate compounds than the 
growing crop itself. It is far better, in the light of these 
important soil findings, to apply organic matter during 
the fall or winter or early spring, when the stores of 
nitrates are at their lowest points. This, then, is the time 
when manure should go to the fields, when denitrifica- 
tion can take place without affecting the available nitro- 
gen supplies of the soil. 

We know, also, that the nitrobacteria — the kind that 



NITRIFICATION I3I 

cause nitrification — arc always inactive in acid soils; 
hence, nitrates are formed in such soils very slowly, in- 
deed. When this is the case, lime must be applied so as 
to sweeten the soil ; then the work will r."o on to the 
advantage of the bacteria working there, and to the farmer 
who seeks the crop. 

Finally, thorough cultivation and tillage and drainage 
must be given, that an abundance of oxygen may be 
available to this working force in the soil. There will 
follow, also, a better distribution of moisture — a most 
essential factor of rapid bacterial development, and 
hence, of nitrilication. 



CHAPTER XV 

RECLAIMING LOST NITROGEN: THE CALL TO THE 

AIR 

Nitrogen passes through its cycle continuously. Freed 
by bacteria, it slips into the air, there to remain until 
trapped again by other bacteria, when it becomes secure 







LOSING NITROGEN AND HUMUS 

Nitros:en is too precious to be sent off into the clouds. Besides the rotting 
effect is needed in the soil. The trouble with old soils is: they need humus. 
Hence, never burn liumus-niaking materials ; let them rot in the soil 



in plants or is held fast bound in the soils. Lost and 
then captured is the gist of the story : not one time, only, 
but SO repeatedly that the change becomes a continuous 



R1£CLAIMING LOST NITROGEN 1 33 

change ; and so it has been from the time that plants 
became fixed occupants of the land. 

How nitrogen is lost, — There are other ways by which 
nitrogen is lost to the soil than that previously men- 
tioned : the loss through denitrifying bacteria. The many 
ways by which these losses occur are : 

1. The loss due to fire and chemical change. 

2. The transfer of nitrogen to the ocean. 

3. The loss of nitrogen salts in drainage waters. 

There is no plan that may be suggested that will com- 
pletely remove these losses. Some cannot be lessened, 
even. Fire is essential for heat and mechanical power. 
When wood, straw and other combustible materials are 
consumed, the compounds composing them are split up : 
mineral materials sink back to the soil (available for 
plant uses, if not lost), carbon and nitrogen, freed from 
their prison cells, fly off into the air and are reclaimed 
to the atmosphere ; and water, loosed from the cords that 
bind it, vaporizes and joins its kind in the clouds above. 

When these agencies are considered — their constant 
activity, their labors in every season and in every place — 
you can realize, readily, the enormous quantities of ni- 
trogen that are dissipated annually and lost, conse- 
quently, to the stores in the earth. 

The ocean gets its share, also. And a tremendous con- 
tribution it is. Consider the enormous quantities of hu- 
man foods that, each year, go to cities and towns and 
other places of consumption throughout the world. The 
greater part of these immense stores reach the ocean 
sooner or later by means of sewers and streams and 
rivers — positively lost to plants and to man. 

Then the loss of nitrogen in drainage waters is not 
inconsiderable, either. This is more constant and larger 
than you may think on first consideration. Every rain 



134 SOILS 

that falls on the land dissolves some of the nitrates and 
other nitrogen-carrying salts and carries them with it as 
it seeks lower levels until finally it reaches the ocean, 
there to give over its findings and its stores to the great- 
ness of the deep. 

There is just one thing to say: nitrogen is lost. 

Finally putrefaction and denitrifying bacteria are busy 
ever sending nitrogen away from the soil, even engaged 
in the work of stealing from plants and robbing the soil 
of its nitrogen stores. 

Nitrogen is therefore lost, constantly and continuously. 
There seems to be no way of prevention, no way of saving 
these valuable stores. True sewage farms will lessen the 
contribution to the ocean, better tillage will check the 
loss through drainage waters, and better soil manage- 
ment will lessen the loss occasioned by evil-working bac- 
teria. Still, with the very best that man can do, the loss 
can be diminished, only, but never overcome. 

The problem: to reclaim the nitrogen lost. — Nitrogen 
loss, then, is not preventable: the call to the ocean, the 
demands of combustion, the determination of certain bac- 
teria, are all so powerful there is no hope of complete 
remedy. If this be true, then this question is in order: 
How may the normal supply of nitrogen be maintained? 

The solution of this problem is of most vital interest 
to agriculture and to the human race. The problem, it- 
self, is the most important of all problems before us to- 
day. For these reasons : upon its solution rests the main- 
tenance of the fertility of the land, and the production of 
food in sufficient quantities to supply all the needs of the 
entire living world : bread and meat, heat and shelter, — 
every sort of food and raiment. 

There is no cause, however, for alarm. Let those al- 
ready disturbed and of little faith remember this : the 



RECLAIMING LOST NITROGEN 1 35 

way to solve this problem has been prepared already. 
The secret has been discovered. The rules are being 
practiced by many to-day : they are easily performed : 
they are very practicable. In short, nitrogen free may 
be so treated and trained that it readily acquires its useful 
habits again, so that plants may use it just as they did 
in other days before freedom was given it. 

Nitrogen fixation in the soil is now a reality, as it has 
been a reality always. The secret has just been revealed 
to us: the story has just been told. 

Nitrogen is fixed in the soil. — The little microscopic 
plants within the soil arc the agents of nitrogen fixation, 
not those that once released it, nor those that cause the 
decay and putrefaction of organic forms that hold it, nor 
yet even those that change low nitrogen forms into ni- 
trate salts — none of these. Other kinds of bacteria, other 
tribes, are the agents of fixation. While similar in all 
habits of life, their work is not destructive. It is con- 
structive and of another order, entirely, than these hereto- 
fore mentioned. 

Nitrogen-fixation bacteria call to the air, and, in re- 
sponse to this call, nitrogen leaves its atmospheric en- 
vironments, goes to the bacteria making the call, and does 
their bidding. 

Our scientific men, to-day, tell us with positiveness that 
outside of electric discharge at least two ways are open 
for nitrogen fixation: (i) The atmosphere of free nitro- 
gen, through the agency of bacteria, by the soil ; (2) the 
acquisition of free nitrogen by bacteria that live on the 
roots of leguminous plants. 

In reference to the first proposition, it has been proved, 
abundantly, that atmospheric nitrogen is fixed in the soil 
in some way ; most probably it is associated with the 
growth of micro-organisms. This is rather clearly shown 



1 36 SOILS 

when heat is applied to the soil : the nitrogen content 
remains unchanged. On the other hand, the same soil 
shows an increase in nitrogen if untreated by chemicals, 
heat or other influences that endanger or destroy the 
floral life therein contained. 

While safe enough evidence shows that soils do have 
the power of fixing nitrogen, it is to a very limited de- 
gree, only ; it is too little, in fact, to base upon it a ration- 
al system of farming. 

Early experiments suggested the advisability of culti- 
vating these friendly bacteria (whose work it is to cap- 
ture atmospheric nitrogen) and so treat them that they 
might work more eitectively, at least to send them into 
soils where they had not gone previously, thus giving 
them unusual work to do — in all soils, in all sections. 
Some European investigators went so far as to prepare 
a culture that should be able to do the work. 

A better way was found, however. It is this : Get the 
right conditions in the soil that permit a favorable de- 
velopment of these bacterial germs rather than inoculate 
the soil, since the germs are usually present in the soil 
and inactive only because their environments are against 
them. To make them active, give to the soil every influ- 
ence that shall stimulate the bacteria to vigorous activity, 
that shall make them healthy and robust, even eager to 
secure the nitrogen of the air and to fix it in the free soils 
of the fields. Soil culture, through tillage, and soil ma- 
nipulation, therefore, are to be preferred, in fact, these 
are indispensable, if the helpful cooperation of these soil 
workers is to be had. 

More is needed: let legumes help, — But this help is all 
too little. The farmer must have assistance more abun- 
dantly and more laden with good results. This may be 
obtained by cooperation with the legumes. They act 



RECLAIMING LOST NITROGEN I37 

quickly : they act with munificence : they act constantly. 
It has been known for some time that the legumes were 
not soil depleters, as wheat or corn or cotton — as every 
other form of plant : they always helped the plant. In 
what manner no one knew. But this was observed : 
when corn or wheat or other cereal followed clover or 
other legume, a much greater yield was secured than on 
similar land, similarly treated, but without the legume 
crop. The evidence was so conclusive that long ago clo- 
ver and peas were hailed as soil improvers and land build- 
ers. Of course, their goodness was never associated with 
bacteria. While the peculiar nodules were observed on 
the roots of these special plants, they were believed to 
be disease evidences rather than homes of friendly-work- 
ing bacteria. 

It has been noticed in a previous chapter that Lawes 
and Gilbert in England made some extensive experiments 
with the legumes and that their observation showed noth- 
ing favorable from their use. You wonder why? Here 
is the explanation : they never had the aid of the bacteria, 
the good fairies of this work. These investigators were 
so careful that no error should creep into their work, they 
either never got soil possessing bacteria, or because of 
sterilization or of the chemicals used, the development 
and, hence, the good work of these nitrogen gatherers 
was prevented. 

Root tubercles: the place of nitrogen manufacture. — 
Have you ever noticed the swellings that appear on the 
roots of such garden plants as peas and beans or on any 
such field crops as clover and alfalfa? No? Well, they 
certainly are there if your crops are growing abundantly 
and vigorously. You will find roots of such crops often 
largely covered with wart-like growths. These are the 
homes of nitrogen-gathering bacteria. Some people call 



RECLAIMING LOST NITROGEN 



139 



these dwelling's tubercles or nodules. It matters not 
what the name is : the work accomplished is the matter 
of consequence. These nodules are often very large — 
as large as a pea. And then again they are small — as 
small as a pin head. Just as soon as these nodules or 
tuljercles were associated with bacteria and bacteria with 
nitrogen fixation, many experiments resulted in conse- 
quence. The result of these investigations led to the 
solution and the explanation by Hellriegel and Willfarth 
in 1888 of this knotty problem: they told how free nitro- 
gen is fixed in the soil. 

A word about these bacteria. — These little plants are 
real bacteria : thread-like bodies that send their advance 

scouts throughout the roots, 
into all tissues of the roots. 
Bacteriologists tell us that 
these bacteria are not just 
like other bacteria. They dif- 
fer in some ways from all the 
other kinds. They seem to 
belong to a class of their own 
in methods of growth and 
development. In reference to 
them, Conn, a noted bacteriol- 
ogist, has this to say : "At 
certain stages of development, by branching or budding, 
they produce what are called Y and T forms, a method 
of growth not characteristic of bacteria, in general. It 
is found, also, that after the beginning of the formation of 
the tubercle, long, thread-like masses, filled with bacteria. 
can be seen extending among the tissues of the plant. 
The long threads appear almost like pouches in which 
the bacteria are held, but they eventually disappear and 
the bacteria themselves diffuse throuirh the tissues. 




root tubercle bacteria 
(after maze) 



I40 SOILS 

These phenomena, the Y and T forms and the pouch-like 
threads, have been puzzles to bacteriologists, for they 
are not characteristic of any other bacteria known. It 
has been doubted whether the organizations should be 
called bacteria." 

But whether these are bacteria or not, the fact remains 
that they are responsible for nitrogen fixation, and 
hence, they are soil builders and world benefactors. 

Suggested ways in which fixation is done. — We are 
certain of this fact: nitrogen is fixed in the soil in a form 
in which it is assimilable by plants and especially usable 
by the legumes. We are not certain, on the other hand, 
of the manner in which this fact is accomplished. 

Four theories have been suggested, as follows : 

1. The bacteria (bacillus radicicola) fix the nitrogen. 

2. Legumes fix the nitrogen, the bacteria being the 
stimulus of the act. 

3. A combined act of the legume plant and tubercle 
bacteria in assimilating nitrogen already fixed in the soil 
by other bacteria but unassimilable imtil legume and 
tubercle bacteria act on it together. 

4. Symbiosis : A combined act of the legume plant and 
tubercle bacteria in gathering nitrogen from the air. 

In case of either theory, the legume plant is inseparably 
associated with bacteria. The question arises : How is 
the work done? 

The first theory allows one conclusion bacteria do 
the work entirely of themselves. The only value of the 
legume is its offering a suitable dwelling spot for the 
workers. While some evidence points to this theory, but 
few accept it as an explanation of nitrogen fixation. 

The second theory, that the legumes fix the nitrogen 
after being stimulated by the bacteria associated with 
them, is not generally held, although its advocates boldly 



RECLAIMING LOST NITROGEN I4I 

declare such to be the case, some even insist that other 
plants besides the legumes have the power of nitrogen 
fixation. They say that some plants other than legumes 
fix nitrogen to a slight degree, only, still they have the 
power. If this theory is correct, it will lead, doubtless, 
to still greater helpfulness in maintaining the fertility 
of the land. 

A third view of nitrogen fixation is this : Some bacteria 
in the soil — just what kind we do not know — seize on 
the nitrogen as it moves about in the soil with the air 
and hold it fast, by placing it in some compound unas- 
similable as plant food. A second step is then made : 
legumes and tubercle bacteria couple their efforts and 
nitrogen passes into a state that plants can use. It is 
fixed nitrogen : it is real, usable plant food. 

The symbiotic theory finds a larger coterie of advo- 
cates. It is the theory of mutual helpfulness : the legume 
helps the bacteria by furnishing carbohydrates and dwell- 
ing places for them : the bacteria help the legume by 
furnishing nitrogen as rapidly as it is needed for all uses 
of the plant. This theory renders each party dependent 
upon the other: without a legume there is no dwelling 
place for bacteria and without the bacteria there is no 
nitrogen for vigorous growth and abundant fruit for the 
legume plant. Hence, this is a theory of cooperation, of 
harmonious mutual service: one helps the other; both 
are materially bettered because of the other. 

The point that is important. — We need not concern our- 
selves particularly about these theories. The best plan 
is to leave them to the scientist, who sooner or later will 
clear up the matter. Nor does it matter. The good work 
will go on just the same : legumes and bacteria will con- 
tinue to add the fat to the land ; they will continue to 
enrich the farm ; they will continue to do this work 



142 



SOILS 



whether we know just how they do it or not. We can 
spend our time to better advantage by helping both in 
the field where the work is to be done : by opening the 
soil that air (and hence nitrogen) may be passed to them 




BACK OF GOOD TILLAGE IS THE WELL-BRED FARM HORSE 

in abundance, by keeping the soil mellow and fine and 
sweet, that the little workers in the darkness below may 
work with advantage to themselves and with profit to 
their master. 



CHAPTER XVI 

SOIL INOCULATION: HOW DONE 

Successful farming now is associated closely with the 
growing of leguminous crops. Why this is true we have 
seen : leguminous crops when aided by tubercle bacteria 
catch the nitrogen of the air and fix it in the soil. There 
remains, still, one phase of this subject to be considered : 
Is the farmer able to induce bacteria to visit his lands 
and to work there in conjunction with the legumes, if 
heretofore they have not been there? This question can 
be answered in the affirmative. But if you would have 
such visitors remain with you always, you must do your 
part in making their new home comfortable and satisfac- 
tory to them. Otherwise, they will die. Perhaps they 
will do just as others before them may have done : they 
may be unable to help you and also, at the same time, 
be unable to live in the quarters you have for them. 

It follows, then, if you would have their help, you must 
do your part : you must keep the soil free from stagnant 
water; keep it sweet and free from all bacteria-destroying 
acids; keep it open and mellow and fine; keep it free 
and attractive to air and like wholesome influences — 
then bacteria will come and flourish and do their work. 

And then bear in mind that legumes can be of no more 
value in soil improvement than cereals or other non- 
leguminous plants, if for any reason the assisting bac- 
teria are forced out of the soil. You must get these little 
assistants at work again, if, perchance, they have de- 
parted. And if they come for the first time, let nothing 
interfere in the way of their remaining. 



144 SOILS 

What inoculation of the soil means. — Not all soils con- 
tain just the sort of bacteria needed for the legume that 
you may desire to grow. Some soils never have had 
legumes growing in them, and hence, the particular bac- 
teria: needed may not be present then at all. If this is the 
case, the crop will do but poorly, especially if the land is 
old, deficient in vegetable matter, and worn out. To 
prepare the way, the soil must be inoculated : bacteria 
must be introduced into the land. You know how the 
yeast plant is employed in bread-making, just a tiny 
bit of it is used. When warmth and moisture are sup- 
plied these yeast plants develop rapidly and soon leaven 
the whole. So with the bacteria of the legumes. In the 
first instance, with no yeast, there can be no "rising" of 
the bread, while in the second, with no bacteria — those of 
the right kind— in the soil, there can be no formation of 
the tubercles on the roots of the legume. Hence, the need 
of inoculation, if the wished-for end is to be attained. 

Each legume has its own worker. — One of the first 
steps of inoculation is to get the right bacteria, for the 
reason that each legume has its own bacteria with which 
it works — personal servants peculiarly loyal and devoted 
to it. Thus the bacteria that are allied with the cow peas 
positively refuse to labor with the alfalfa or with the 
clovers. These bacteria would rather die, than seek 
dwelling places on the roots of either alfalfa or clover. 
But the same peculiarity is true of alfalfa and clover bac- 
teria: these behave in precisely the same way to the cow 
pea or to the soy bean, as their relatives do to their lords 
and masters. In other words, each legume becomes a 
favorite abiding place for some special kind of bacteria, 
and long coaxing is necessary in order to get them to do 
differently. In a few cases bacteria are known to be more 
plastic, burr clover and sweet clover being two exam- 



SOIL INOCTTLATION : HOW DONE 



145 




MELILOTUS (sweet clover) 



HAIRY VETCH 



CRIMSON CLOVER 



SOME LEGUME ROOTS SHOWING ROOT TUBERCLES 



146 SOILS 

pies that lend their silent servants to alfalfa with no 
noticeable resentment on the part of the bacteria. It is 
not the rule, however. Born within their caste, it seems 
out of the question for bacteria to escape the borders that 
enclose them. It is no doubt true that these many kinds 
of bacteria — each legume has its own — came from a com- 
mon ancestry, when all legumes were served alike, and 
before wide differences became manifest. 

As an example of this, we have only to refer to the 
experience of all alfalfa growers in those sections of the 
country where this crop has been introduced only re- 
cently. Although some other legume may have been 
grown repeatedly on the same soil, no assistance seems 
to be afforded the alfalfa plant until first there is supplied 
to the soil the special bacteria that have grown accus- 
tomed to this legume. 

Bacteria may act slowly at first.^ — It often happens, also, 
that when legumes are grown in a soil for the first time, 
neither they nor bacteria do very effective work. Either 
they have not got acquainted sufficiently to work in 
harmony, or too few bacteria are present in the soil. I 
have observed this a number of times, and with several 
legumes. The first season but little is done : the roots 
lack vigor and possess but few nodules, the stalk is 
slender and lacks hardiness, the leaves are pale, and poor 
health is generally manifest. In the second season a 
change is noted; in each respect just mentioned there is 
improvement and betterment. And often a third year, 
even, is necessary in order to secure vigor, strength, color, 
yield and size — jvist as you would have them. An exam- 
ination of the roots shows that an abundance of tubercles 
is obtained, often, during the second season, and usually 
by the third. Plants and bacteria now work in harmony, 
and both prosper. 



SOIL INOCULATION : HOW DONE I47 

You should not despair, therefore, if appearances are 
against the crop during the first or second year. Just 
keep at work and repeat the operation a second or even a 
third time. The bacteria will come and work. The land 
will be saved ! 

When trying a legume for the first time, give it a 
chance. If it fails to meet your expectation, do not de- 
spair. But refrain from blaming the legume, nor blame 
the bacteria, either. Just repeat the experiment, and on 
the same land. Give both time to join hands, to get to- 
gether and acquainted, to adjust their characters to suit 
each other's peculiarities ; and, above all, give the bac- 
teria time to increase and to multiply and to fill the land 
with their kind. Then the work will be done with ef- 
fectiveness, just as it will be done to your profit and 
advantage. 

Many ways of inoculation. — There are three ways 
known of getting bacteria into the soil, if not already 
present there. These three ways are : 

1. By introducing soil from a field known to contain 
the desired bacteria to the field where it is desired such 
bacteria shall be. 

2. By soaking seed in water in which soil from a field 
where the legume has been successfully grown, has been 
stored. 

3. By means of pure cultures of the specific organism 
suited to the legume. 

The first way suggested represents the beginning of 
soil inoculation. It was effective, as it is still to-day the 
most effective. There are objections to this method, 
however. It is an inconvenient method of doing the 
work ; it tends to introduce noxious weeds ; and it spreads 
plant diseases ; hence, the reason for the "pure-culture 
method." 



148 SOILS 

Inoculation by means of soil. — If this method is to be 
used — whether obtained from nearby fields, or shipped 
long distances — the evidence should be clear that the soil 
is free from the objections just stated. Here is the plan: 
take soil from some field known to contain the desired 
bacteria. Does this soil yield the legume abundantly? 
Do you find tubercles on the roots? You do. Then 
that is good soil for the purpose. All you need to do is 
transfer this already-inoculated soil to the land that is to 
receive the good fairies of the land. If this soil is fine 
and mellow and of good tilth, if it is well drained, either 
naturally or artificially, if it is free from distasteful acids, 
then other things being equal — the plant at home in its 
environment, the soil suitable to it — the crop will grow, 
the bacteria will prosper, the land will yield forth its 
fruitfulness. 

In getting the soil, it is best to go down where the roots 
grow — not the top layer. A layer between two and six 
inches from the surface will be just about right. Apply 
this soil to the field that is to be inoculated, or else mix 
with the seed, slightly covering with the harrow. 

And now another question : How much soil is neces- 
sary? Not much. Just 200 to 500 pounds per acre will 
do. If the soil be in good condition, a small quantity will 
leaven the entire mass, the entire solid body. On the 
other hand, if the soil is bad, physically, a larger quantity 
may be better — twice the quantity previously suggested. 
In either case, mix with other soil — just common soil of 
the field — and then harrow for even distribution. That 
is all there is to inoculation when inoculated soil is used. 
Once done, it is always done, provided the legume crop 
is not neglected for too great an intervening period. 

Inoculation by soaking seed in soil and water. — The 
second suggestion is often used in practice now. Soil is 



SOIL INOCULATION : HOW DONE 



149 



obtained and enough water used to make a muddy solu- 
tion and in this the seed is soaked, after which it is dried 
and sown. 

The "pure culture" idea. — This idea is not so recent, 
as you may have been led to believe from the foolish and 
erroneous advertisement that has been given "pure cul- 
ture" inoculation. Several years ago two German scien- 
tists worked out this idea, and prepared pure cultures of 
the several bacteria suited to the important legumes. 
These cultures were called nitragin and soon gained con- 
siderable commercial atten- 
tion, even finding their way 
across the waters to us on 
this side. But these cultures 
failed, when asked to work 
outside of European lands. 
Soon after the advent of ni- 
tragin, Moore brought out 
his so-called discovery and 
invention. It was hailed by 
magazines and many agri- 
cultural papers as a panacea 
for all the ills of the soil. 
While often successful, this 

method is still in the experimental stage. It promises 
much, however. 

Following is the Moore plan of such cultures for com- 
mercial use : bacteria were grown on nitrogen-free me- 
dia ; they got no nitrogen, and hence were starved, the 
idea being tliat when grown later in their natural habitat, 
their nitrogen appetite would be quickened. The next 
step was to lay these away in cotton and dry them, that 
journeys to distant points might the more easily be made. 
But the plan was not satisfactory despite all that has been 




GROWING DACTERIA IN THE 
LABORATORY 



150 SOILS 

said to the contrary. While it is true that many tests 
were made in actual field operation, only 40 per cent, were 
in any degree successful. It is not known just what per 
cent, of these trials would have shown like results, even 
though no inoculation had been made. Certainly, the 
results have been most disappointing, and a most interest- 
ing theory has come to naught. 

It is to be hoped the new plan of liquid pure-cultures 
will be tried and proved before given over to spectacular 
advertisement, as was done with its parent predecessor. 

Inoculation secures nitrogen only. — Let this be clearly 
understood, also : no sort of inoculation — inoculation soil 



.-<i.j.iK>^||^H 






^yf^^^(^^|^^^^H 




m 


^BPI^^^*'i 


si 




._:..-.. JH 


tt',.. , ;..„-. 


" 'sfl^B^B 



ALFALFA : THE BEST ALL-ROUND CROP IN AMERICA 

or pure culture — is able to provide other elements than 
nitrogen. Nor can nitrogen be got save through the use 
of a legume crop. This idea is repeated here, that it 
may be understood clearly that inoculation has to do only 
with nitrogen, the legumes and the bacteria associated 
with the two. In this way, only, can you secure any re- 
ward for time, labor and money expended in the pursuit 
of nitrogen. 

The legume to select. — In selecting a legume that shall 
serve in the capacity of a nitrogen gatherer for other 
crops, you will be governed, naturally, by circumstances. 



SOIL inoculation: now done 151 

If your soil is sandy in nature, you can expect but little 
from clover. Cow peas and soy beans will do the work 
a great deal better. Give these legumes a trial there. 
On the other hand, if you want a more permanent legume 
for loam or clay land and one that will last longer than 
for a few months, only, then select clover. It adjusts itself 
readily to every sort of rotation ; it is easily sown and it 
makes a good pasture crop or a good hay crop — you can 
take your choice. But even if you use cow peas, and soy 
beans and clover, you certainly ought not overlook alfalfa. 
It is the best all-round crop in America: good for feed 
and good for the land, good for consumption on the farm, 
and good for sale : the best money crop, the best feeding 
crop, and the best crop for the land. 

Conclusion: Points to bear in mind. — i. Inoculation is 
a good thing : 

(a) When a small amount of humus is in the soil. 

(b) If previously-grown legumes lacked nodules. 

(c) If the legume is used for the first time, and not 
closely related to the previously-grown legume. 

2. Inoculation may help : 

(a) When the crop grows poorly, although some nod- 
ules are found. 

(b) When the start was good, and the seed poor. 

3. Inoculation is never needed : 

(a) When an abundance of nodules are produced al- 
ready. 

{b) When the soil is supplied already abundantly with 
nitrogen. 

4. Bacteria are not plant food. 

Neither bacteria nor the cultures of nitrogen-fixing bac- 
teria are to be regarded as plant food. A bacterium is 
not nitrogen, nor is it composed of nitrogen. It renders 
nitrogen of the air available for the legume. 



CHAPTER XVII 

DRAINING THE LAND 

A wise man once was asked: "What is the most vahi- 
ahle discovery in agriculture?" He answered: "Drain- 
age." 

In draining the land, we are concerned, for the most 
part, with the surplus water and its removal. For drain- 
age acts thus : it removes the gravitational water — 
the kind that often injures plants, the kind that drowns 
the roots, and it increases the quantity of capillary water 
— the kind useful to plants, the kind that draws into solu- 
tion the needed plant-food salts, and secures them for 
roots and stems and leaves and for all the growing tis- 
sues of the plant. 

Here are some of the good things that drainage does : 

1. It deepens the soil in which grow plant roots. 

2. It better aerates the soil. 

3. It enables manure to act more beneficially. 

4. It allows a better warming of the soil. 

5. It lengthens the season. 

6. It permits tillage operations to be done more easily. 

7. It enables plants to resist drought, because the roots 
go into the ground earlier in the season. 

8. It prevents washing. 

9. It makes the soil more sanitary. 

10. It makes better crops. 

Deepening the soil. — It is perfectly evident to any 
thinking man that a soil that is well drained is a more 
habitable place for plant roots, than one filled with stand- 
ing water. We do not need to theorize about this propo- 



DRAINING THE LAND 



153 




sition. You need only to ol)scrvc, as you pass along any 

hii^invay, to sec how sli.<;ht is vegetation, and how sickly 

are cultivated crojjs on lands not drained. A soil that is 

constantly saturated with water will not permit a good 

growth of crops. The essential conditions 

for growth are wanting. It is understood 

readily that where a tile drain, or, in fact, 

any sort of substitute, when constructed and 

placed three or four feet below the surface 

of the ground, the water level is naturally 

lowered to a point on a level with the bottom 

of the drain. Drainage, therefore, provides 

a large pasture ground for plant roots and 

a deep one, also, as a conscciuence, for all 

time to come. 

You have proven, in your own experience. 
that roots will not grow in a soil saturated 
with water. They try to do so for a time, but 
soon sicken and die. If the water table is only 
10 or 12 inches below the surface of the soil, 
the roots are obliged to grow within that limit. 
But if the water table is lowered another 
foot, the feeding and growing limit for roots 
is deepened and, consequently, enlarged, to 
the benefit of the plant and to the crop. 

Perfectly drained soils, drained to a depth 
of three or four feet, show plant roots 
throughout this body limit. It stands to rea- 
son that such a root-foraging ground is 
more desirable than a shallow one, made so by a high 
water table near the surface of the ground. And here 
are the reasons : there is more room for the roots ; there 
is more plant food to be secured ; there is more warmth 
in the soil ; there is more air to be used ; hence, there is 



RED CLOVER 
ROOTS 

Showinj^ why 

the soil should 

be deep 



154 SOILS 

a more comfortable home for the roots provided in drained 
land. 

Air gets into the soil. — It has been pointed out that both 
air and oxygen are essential for good root development, 
as well as for high crop production. But air and oxygen 
are excluded from the soil when water fills up all of the 
air spaces in the soil. Drainage removes this water and, 
hence, increases the air content of the soil. Air goes 
just as deeply into the soil as the water table allows, and 
as it goes down, it leaves all along its way its helpful 
gifts — scores of beneficial influences that stand for better 
crops. 

And still two other things : It supplies the roots with 
oxygen, and it breaks down complex substances, fitting 
them for the call that other plants soon will make. 

Manure is made more effective. — Vegetable matter and 
other humus-forming materials are of no value in the 
soil, until they are thoroughl}^ decomposed and destroyed. 
Hence, it follows that good results, from the use of ma- 
nure, will be obtained in the highest degree only when 
the rotting influences of the soil are best. 

For undrained soils do their work in this respect very 
unsatisfactorily. The drained soil makes the best use of 
manures. It has been shown frequently that chemical 
manures are used most wisely in connection with high 
physical improvement only, with good tillage, good 
drainage, good cultivation, and with a free use of humus- 
making materials. 

There is in this connection another point to be con- 
sidered : Useful bacteria find favorable development only 
in the presence of an abundance of oxygen ; they find 
enjoyable the work of breaking down compounds, and of 
building up nitrates, only when air is furnished abun- 
dantly, and when the soil is open and warm and sweet. 



DRAINING THE LAND 



155 



But they do not like wet soils and in thcni they do but 
little work. On the other hand, much work is done by 
the nitrogen-freeing bacteria : the evil-doers which re- 
lease soil-nitrogen, and send it back again into the atmos- 
phere. Here is the way these bacteria work : When 
given soils that are well drained, good bacteria add to the 
nitrogen store ; when given soils that are wet and un- 
drained, evil-doing bacteria rise in power and take from 
the stores in the soil. In the first instance, constructive 
workers are at hand and in the second, destructive ones. 
Consequently, if you would have the help of the benefi- 
cial and would drive the harmful away, and, at the same 
time, have manures of all kinds most effectively used, 
you must pay close attention to draining the land. 

The soil is made warmer. — Wet soils are always cold. 
And since warmth is necessary for both germination and 



DRY SOIL 

lUAM 12 M 2 PM 



WET SOIL 



2PM 4PM „, 

70° 




H. humus; c.clay;, s.sand. 

SOIL TEMPERATURE 

Temperatures were taken for seven consecutive days— averages being shown 

here 



for active growth of plants, it follows that wet soils 
never can equal well-drained ones when it comes to high 
production. It is out of the question to expect other- 
wise. 

The season is lengthened. — Wet soils often become dry 



156 



SOILS 



in the summer, when hot and dry weather are the rule, 
but for a period so short no paying crop can result. Na- 
ture is too slow here and your work will be unsatisfactory 
and unprofitable, if you depend upon her, alone, to drain 
areas naturally wet. Better not do it. Use tiles in- 
stead. The first noticeable difference, after drainage is 
done, is the lengthening of the growing season : work 
may be begun earlier in the spring and it may be extend- 
ed far into the autumn. This means that stagnant water is 
removed from the land, both in the spring and in the fall, 




A WAY TO HELP THE DRAINAGE 
Plowing clay in eight-step lands 



to the advantage of your work, your crop, and yourself. 
You can handle, often, well-drained soils three to five 
weeks earlier than like soils in an undrained condition. 

Tillage is more easily done. — Soils are injured fre- 
quently (if not ruined for the time being) by tillage 
operations, if done when the land is wet. It is perfectly 
evident, therefore, that a soil undrained, either naturally 
or artificially, makes all tillage operations a burden, and 
the work a drag. 



DRAINING THE LAND 157 

Plowing' is done often later in the season, consequently 
often unsatisfactoril}', and the crop suffers, for it is 
planted in haste ; and. as a result, it is hindered through- 
out its period of growth. Drained lands are easily 
tilled and easily cultivated. They permit all tillage 
operations to be done easily and satisfactorily, and 
at a time when most urgently needed or de- 
manded. 

Less danger of drought. — One of the proved facts that 
scientific nivestigation has shown is this: a soil contains 
more moisture after drainage than before. The explana- 
tion of this seeming inconsistency lies in the fact that 
the ph3^sical condition of undrained soil is being im- 
proved : the soil is made loose and mellow ; the soil 
grains are more open ; and the interspaces admit and 
hold air — the capillary water is more freely introduced, 
when demanded, and more readily handed out to the 
roots, as they call for it. 

Just l)ear in mind that stagnant water is of no help to 
plants. They cannot use it. Furthermore, it is repul- 
sive to them. Better get rid of it, depending rather upon 
the subsoil and the capillary tubes composed of the soil 
grains, for the water supply during a complete growing 
period. Of ccuirse, rains are to be desired — they are 
positively needed for most lands — but their waters must 
be taken into the soil and distributed into all of its parts: 
a tiny bit must be given to each soil grain to hold and to 
care for until some root forces it away. And all surplus 
amounts must be carried away, that no injury may be 
done either plant or soil. 

When you open and mellow and fine the soil you in- 
crease the moisture content of the soil. When this is 
done, a larger store of water is secured in the soil, down 
to a considerable depth, all of which will be available, 



158 



SOILS 



when dry weather arrives, furnishing what wet soils fail 
always in doing. 

Washing is prevented. — If a soil is saturated with 
water, the only means of escape for rains is by means of 
surface washing, a most injurious operation for the soil. 
For this reason : surface washing picks up dissolved plant 
food, and fine particles of soil, and carries both to lower 




LOSING SOILS BY HEAVY RAINS 

The loss of surface soil bv washing is often very serious. This soil has been 
washed to the edpre of the field and down into the milch: it is the finest and 
richest soil. If the plow had bet-n run deeper, ami the land had been culti- 
vated crosswise of the slope, instead of lenj^thwiso, it would not have been 
washed so badly. This soil needed cultivation also. Note the crust and 
cracks at the bottom of the picture ; no wonder water does not get into 
the soil 



depths. I have seen vast areas, gullied, and ridged, and 
torn, and made so by surface washing of the land. 

Often plowing is done poorly : so shallow that rains 
never find their way down into the soil, carrying as they 
go their good eflects to the lower depths ; but, on the 
other hand, they flee along the hillsides, carrying away 
treasures that are valuable and sadly needed, just where 



DRAINING THE LAND 159 

they are — taking them from the place where most able to 
do good. Drainage provides, therefore, both an entrance 
into, and, at the same time, an exit out of the soil, for all 
water that falls as rain. 

The sanitary effect of drainage. — Wet soils are sour. 
They are cold and uninviting. They are attractive nei- 
ther to plants nor to bacteria. Since these are chiefly 
interested in the soil, their comfort and their wishes must 
be obeyed first. When both call for drainage, it 
should be provided. 

Large tracts of land, now given over to swamps and 
marshes, and which arc in poor sanitary condition, would, 
if drained, be most useful areas for crop production and 
highly remunerative returns. 

Not all soils need drainage. — You should not think that 
all soils will be improved by drainage : far from it. Con- 
sidering the whole area of our country, the total area of 
land that needs drainage is small. We have vast areas 
of swamp lands and heavy clay lands, that certainly need 
drainage. But, on the other hand, many of our agricul- 
tural lands are naturally drained : they have open sub- 
soils that readily allow surface soakings to find channels 
of escape. 

You should be able to determine for yourself where 
drainage is necessary. What has been said before in this 
chapter will indicate the type of lands that needs drain- 
age, and that furnishes a fair diagnosis of drainage cases. 
If your land needs drainage, by all means provide it. I 
have known of many instances where a single crop has 
paid for the entire cost of land drainage. Often soils, 
more or less worthless, arc made highly productive by a 
thorough system of tiling. 

The kind of drain. — We have two forms of drains : open 
and covered. In case of the former, a simple channel or 



l6o SOILS 

open ditch is cut. This furnishes a receptacle for surface 
and seepage waters, thereby relieving the land joining it 
of its surplus water. 

The covered drain is made of tile, stone, wood, brush, 
and boards, and furnishes a satisfactory exit for soakage 
and seepage water. It is, by far, the most satisfactory 
kind of drain, although there are instances when an open 
drain is required. The objections to the open drain are: 
The constant attention that is required to keep it in order, 
to keep its banks from caving in, to keep out weeds that 
grow there abundantly, and to overcome the loss of so 
much land, which brings but small returns. 

Open drains are often made with banks sloping 
outward. This admits less loss in waste, since 
grass affords pasture and protects the sides at the 
same time. 

Under-drains : many kinds of material. — You may use 
quite a number of materials for constructing under-drains. 
The following kinds of materials frequently have been 
used : stone, brush, poles, boards, and tile. With one ex- 
ception (tiles), these materials are out of date and now 
but seldom, if ever, used. They have served their pur- 
pose in their day but that was before the tile drain came. 
Now, compared with tiles, all other forms are inefficient 
and of little worth. 

The stone drain has been used a great deal, even to- 
day it occasionally is in favor. When well constructed, it 
is lasting and efficient. But it costs too much. To make 
the stone drain properly, a wide trench is necessary, thus 
necessitating the moving of an immense amount of dirt. 
Besides, a tremendous quantity of stone is required, and 
the labor, for the entire work, makes the stone drain many 
times more costly than the tile drain. It seems to me it 
is a good deal better to use all stone accumulations for 



DRAINING THE LAND l6l 

roads or bridges, and to call tiles into use for every form 
of drainage work. 

It may be said, in passing, that brush, poles, and box 
drains, — in fact, any form of wooden drains, — are unsatis- 
factory, for the reason that these materials, sooner or 
later, rot and decay, thus requiring the entire operation to 
l)c repeated again. 

Tiles: the perfect drain, — Tile drains are the cheapest 
that can be used. It would not be too much to say that 
drainage by tiles is the perfection of drainage. Thou- 
sands of practical tests in this country have demonstrated 
the value of tile drainage, for these reasons: (i) when 
once laid, a good tile drain will last for centuries ; (2) the 
tile is out of reach of all cultivating tools ; (3) tiles fur- 
nish the cheapest possible means of removing excess of 
water from the soil. 

Tiles have become so common, there is no section in the 
country, to-day, where drainage is practiced, that they 
are not available and known. You will be making a mis- 
take, most certainly, by employing any sort of drain other 
than tile. 

W'e have many kinds of tiles. Many kinds, of many 
makes, and of many shapes and styles, all of which have 
been put upon the market. It is only necessary to say 
that the round tile is most in favor, and most generally 
accepted, wherever tile draining is performed. One of the 
advantages of the round style is the ease of laying it, and 
the ease of connecting it with the preceding tile. 

Distance between drains. — The lay of the land, the fall, 
the nature of the soil, all come into prominence, and must 
be given due weight in laying out any system of land 
drainage. 

Lands that are of heavy clay, for instance, necessarily 
will call for more tile than other lands that are more open 



l62 SOILS 

and friable. Level lands, that naturally hold all the water 
that falls as rain, require a more perfect system of drain- 
age than others that are relieved by surface washing. 

The observing farmer readily will note the fields, or 
portions of fields, that call for land drainage. As soon as 
you get the system fixed in mind, start the work ; and then 
let nothing come in the way that may prevent its com- 
pletion. 

Depth of drain. — The deeper that drains are placed, the 
larger the surface area they will drain. Judgment will be 
required in this case. Certainly, tile drains should 
scarcely, if ever, be placed at a depth of more than five 
feet — four feet, perhaps, being the limit. And there are 
also but few instances where tiles should be laid at a 
depth of less than two feet. The height of the outlet, of 
course, will be an all-controlling factor as to the depth at 
or near the outlet. 

Roots of growing plants often play havoc with tile 
drains : by crowding into them to get air and moisture. 
Of course, they soon fill the drain and completely destroy 
it. Where tile drains run beneath trees of any kind, it is 
best to cement the joints, so as to completely prevent 
roots from gaining entrance. 

In digging the ditch. — Complete sets of tools now go 
with tile draining. When the system has been deter- 
mined and grade has been established, the next move is to 
dig the ditch or trench. The spading tool is best for the 
purpose : follow a line, throw the dirt on the most con- 
venient side. After the ditch has been dug and the trench 
made ready for the tile, the bottom should be slightly 
rounded and thoroughly tested, so as to be on an ab- 
solutely perfect grade, — from two to six inches of fall for 
every one hundred feet. 

The tiles are now laid, one after another, with closely 



DRAINING THE LAND 163 

fitting joints. Collars may be used, or any broken tile or 
stone, for covering' the poorly fitting joints. When the 
tiles are laid, carefully fix fast the tile by banking either 
side with fine dirt, after which the trench may be cjuickly 
filled by hand or by plow. 

Protect the outlet. — More than one farmer makes a mis- 
take by not protecting the outlet of his tile drain. In the 
summer season, when no water is being moved, the tile 
drain becomes a pleasant abiding place, or often a shelter, 
for rats, rabbits, and other hole-seeking animals. It fre- 
quently happens that these animals get caught in the tile, 
and are unable to extricate themselves, thus dying in their 
underground retreat. Their remains offer a splendid lodg- 
ment for silt and clay, and soon completely fill up the 
drain, rendermg it useless, and, to be repaired, a more or 
less costly undertaking. 

A wire screen may be provided with little labor and 
with no expense, that will completely protect the outlet 
against these mishaps, and this will keep the drain ser- 
viceable for a time be3'ond estimation. 

While tile drainage, on a large scale, and for the entire 
country, is unnecessary, there still remains the fact that 
in every section of the country there are certain small 
areas that will be greatly improved, in fact, even remade, 
at little expense and cost, by under-drainage through tiles, 
while, on the other hand, in some sections there are some 
soils so impervious that under-drainage is impracticable. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

SOIL WATER: HOW IT IS LOST; HOW IT MAY BE HELD 

The operation of loosening- and stirring the soil usually 
is spoken of as tillage or cultivation. Heretofore four 
reasons have been advanced in support of tillage : it in- 
creases the root form for the plant; it admits air into the 
soil so that plant food may be more readily prepared ; it 
secures oxygen for plant roots ; and it destroys weeds. 




THE RESULT WHEN WATER IS SECURED AND HELD 
The annual rainfall where these sugar beets were grown was but 20 inches 



We must not overlook two other tillage operations that 
stand out prominently in any rational treatment of the 
soil. These are : the rainfall is enabled to enter the soil 
easily ; the loss of water by evaporation is checked. 

While each of these operations deserves careful atten- 
tion, the ]ast two are open to more gentle treatment and 
to more sensitive consideration than the operations pre- 
viously described. 

Transpiration: the exit through the leaves. — We have 
learned that roots gather moisture and carry it into the 



SOIL WATKR : now IT IS LOST 



165 



plant. This moisture, or water, conveys the soil nutri- 
ment with it to the plants. It then passes on up throu,q;h 
the stems and leaves, to be exhaled, finally, through the 
leaves. The loss of water to the soil, by this means, is 
very large. For ordinary crops, from 300 to 500 pounds 
of water are required to produce one pound of dry matter. 




EIFECT OF CULTIVATION OF CORN CROP 

Plot at right received ordinary good cultivation, and yielded 64 bushels of corn 
per acre. Plot at left received no cultivation, and yielded 4 bushels of corn 
per acre 



It has been estimated that for average production of some 
common crops, the amount of water recjuired for pro- 
ducing a single acre is as follows : Clover, 400 tons ; corn, 
350 tons ; grapes, 375 tons ; oats, 375 tons ; potatoes, 450 
tons ; wheat, 350 tons ; and peas, 375 tons. 

As the rainfall during the growing season is not suffi- 
cient as a means of supplying water to the crop, the water 
stored in the soil must be drawn upon considerably. This 
fact lays stress upon the importance of large water sup- 
plies in the soil, not as stagnant water, but as capillary 



i66 SOILS 

water, closely identified with soil grains. It should be re- 
membered that drainage applies to lands only that are 
flat or naturally wet, and then mainly in the early part of 
the season, while the saving of moisture is the main factor 
in most soils. 

Evaporation: drying out by sun and wind. — A second 
source of water loss is due to the action of the sun and 
wind, which cause water vapor to rise directly from the 



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CULTIVATION CHECKS EVAPORATION 

We cultivate to kill weeds, to conserve the moisture in the soil, and to render 
plant food available 

surface of the soil. It matters not how much or how 
little moisture there is present in the soil; just the same, 
there is a constant loss, and notably so if the atmos- 
phere is hot or dry. This escape of moisture is of prime 
importance to every farmer. It is needed in the soil ; par- 
ticularly is this true in dry seasons and during the sum- 
mer months. 

While it is true that every soil has a reserve store of 
water, it is just as true that this reserve supply often 
^ets low, and especially is this so when the weather is hot 



SOIL WATER : now IT IS LOST 



167 



and dry. Capillarity causes the trouble. We suppose 
that capillarity is an atj;-ent at work bringing water from 
lower depths up to roots for our good, only ; but let us 
remember that this same force carries water higher than 
the root region, merely ; it carries it up to the very top, 
where, when in contact with the surface, it is licked up 
by winds and atmosphere, and borne away beyond reach 
of soil or plant or man. 

Cultivation checks evaporation. — It now becomes mani- 
fest that soils must Ijc cultivated, not only to make them 
wholesome and attractive to seeds, and to kill weeds, but 
to cultivate them, also, to conserve this moisture — to 
check the loss occasioned by evaporation. 

Naturally, a question arises: Does cultivation conserve 
moisture in the soil? In answer to this, let us consult the 
soil about the matter. In New Hampshire the observed 
differences between two plots are given below: 





ist Foot 
Per cent. 


2d Foot 
Per cent. 


3d Foot 
Per cent. 


4th Foot 
Per cent. 




24.16 
20.92 


24.82 
»9-3i 


23-5.3 

ig.64 






18.54 






Difference 


3-24 


5-51 


3-89 


4.41 







Here is a saving of 352.64 tons of water per acre on 
the cultivated plot. Certainly, a saving of tremendous 
bearing during seasons of dry weather. 

Water must be carried into the soil. — As a preliminary 
step in conserving soil moisture, water must be admitted 
to the soil. And right here is one of the spots where it is 
well to give close attention : you must get water into the 
soil before you can save it. Often the supply is short, and 



I 68 SOILS 

the least bit wasted acts as a handicap for the coming 
crop. Good farm practice aims to have and to hold the 
surface of the soil in such condition that the whole of the 
rain supply shall be received into it, and by gravitation 
drawn to the lower regions where the water stores are 
held and preserved. 

Whenever the surface of the soil is tight and stiff and 
impervious, you may be sure that a good part of every 
rain will never get into the soil, but will be lost by surface 
drainage. And you must aim to get the rains of the entire 
year; not those that come during the growing season, 
only, but those of fall and winter and early spring, as well. 
Often the summer rains fall far short of the plants' de- 
mands, even though they are utilized in their entirety. 
Good crops often are produced when the rainfall, during 
the period of growth, is no more than a quarter of the 
quantity demanded and used by the plant. This is possi- 
ble solely for the reason that there has been got into the 
soil a large part of the water that fell as rain earlier in the 
season — during the fall and winter months. 

It is not stating the facts too loosely to say that in 
humid regions as much as 25 per cent, of the entire rain- 
fall is lost to the soil, and for this reason: The streams 
get it, because the surface crust acts so slowly in absorb- 
ing the waters that come to it, the real amount obtained 
being much less than what it ought to be. And the same 
fault is applicable to semi-arid regions. While the loss 
here is not so great, it is only because the rainfall is less 
and the land more level and attractive to rain. A loss in 
this way of 10 per cent. — a most conservative estimate — 
means much, considering the fact that the average rain- 
fall is but twenty inches annually. 

It will be worth your while to remember that the water 
that runs off of the surface is not only lost to plants, but 



SOIL WATER : HOW IT IS LOST 



169 



it washes also the surface and carries away with it plant 
food and a great deal of soil. It should be your aim to 
keep the soil loose and mellow on the surface, so that 
water may be absorbed freely and abundantly, and then 




A IIU.ME-.MADE ROLLER 

It does good work as a roller, and leaves the surface of the soil in such a way 
thai the water is prevented from escaping. This sort of roller must be run 
crosswise the slope and not with it 



there will be enouii^h to supply plants when the hot, dry 
part of summer comes. 

The practical bearing is this : the surface of the soil 
must be kept loose and open so that as rapidly as rain 
falls it may be admitted into the upper soil, from whence it 
can work gradually down to the great storehouse beneath, 
to be held and preserved until later called into use. 

Surface breaking a help. — This explains one helpful 
side of fall plowing: the stiff, hardened crust is broken 



I/O SOILS 

and water freely enters, the ridges and hollows occa- 
sioned by the plowing operation, acting together, serve as 
tiny basins for catching and holding all little excesses, 
until the greater part of the contribution can be got into 
the soil. The entire turned portion of the soil further 
serves as a sponge for the time being, until the water just 
received can be given to the interspaces of the soil below. 
In North Carolina a test showed 142 tons per acre of 
water more in a fall-plowed soil, than for similar soil 
plowed late in the spring. 

The importance of this increase is readily seen : more 
water is stored in the soil and more is available for the 
crop later in the season at a time when the demands will 
be great and urgent. Similar results were obtained in 
New Hampshire. Out of fourteen determinations made, 
fall plowings showed larger water content in every case, 
the range being from 72 to 264 tons per acre above like 
soils that were plowed during the latter part of May. 

A most frequent and conspicuous observation, espe- 
cially during periods of drought, is this : Corn or cotton 
or other cultivated crop, day after day, week after week, 
contends against extreme heat and drought, without rain 
or prospect of rain ; despairs not, though the soil is dry 
and hot ; grows on and increases in size and strength, al- 
though but little, to pass at last beyond danger because 
rain has come, because the period of trial is over, because 
the earth is replenished again. Why is this so, when all 
about are fields of similar crops starved, ruined, if not 
dead? Simply because many months before water found 
admission into the soil, and there remained until the 
crucial test was made — water was demanded — the call 
was given, which, heeded, preserved the crop, and added 
fresh laurels to the crop and to its keeper. 

It is stated that often if but a half inch more of water 



SOIL water: how it is lost 



171 



were in the soil, a destroyed, withered crop might have 
been saved. 

These facts point to a general conclusion : fall plow- 
ing, because it offers an uneven, broken, open surface to 
the rain, enables water to enter the soil, and increases, in 
a marked degree, its water content. 




DISKING THE GROUND I3EF0RE PLOWING 

A good practice, but not not generally followed. It helps to make a fine seed- 
bed, saves moisture, makes plowing easier and increases the crop 



This same conclusion applies to early spring plowing 
and to disking, and for the same reason. 

Lands that often suffer for water later in the season, 
may be helped much bv running the disk before plowing 
time (as a part of land prcjiaration for the seed). Old 
corn lands, pea stubble, and worn-out pastures and mead- 
ows, especially, are helped by this practice. When these 
are plowed a few weeks later, the soil will ])ulverize more 
readily, and it will be fitted for seeding with less effort 



172 SOILS 

and expense. I have come to appreciate the disk harrow 
most highly for this work. The labor and expense inci- 
dental to disking before plowing is more than met by the 
lessened amount of both at the time of preparation. And 
then the work is better done. A corn crop has been 
known to show its appreciation by yielding 8.6 bushels 
more per acre in favor of this sort of treatment. 

Saving water by cultivation. — The work of the farmer 
is to induce water to enter the soil both in summer and 
winter. But it is more than this. He must save it, once 
it is secured. And now we come back to our original 
proposition : cultivation checks the water loss. Until you 
grasp this idea, until you come to a full realization of its 
force and importance, you will never be able to compel 
your soils to expend their fullest powers toward the pro- 
duction of maximum crops. 

The principle of moisture-saving, briefly stated, is this : 
Water is carried from the water storehouse of the lower 
depths of the soil by capillarity. It rises in the soil from 
soil particle to soil particle, just as oil creeps up in the 
lamp-wick. It moves sidewise and diagonally and up- 
ward ; it goes in the direction of the hardest pull. 

But always, in the end, unless prevented by some ob- 
stacle — a dry mulch so acts — it finds the surface of the 
soil, at which point it passes into vapor and leaps into 
the atmosphere. 

You have no reason to doubt this principle, for you 
have seen its evidence a thousand times. You have 
picked a board from the ground, or kicked a stone from 
its snug pocket, or taken leaves or grass or straw from the 
bed made, and you found that beneath either there 
was wetness ; even a great deal, although on every side 
the surrounding soil was dry and hot. 

There was but one way by which this could happen : by 



SOIL water: now it is lost 



^73, 



capillarity bcii^c: at work, l^y water leaving the lower 
stores and risinp^ upwards to the surface. Not to escape 
in this case, however, because the stone, or board, or 
vegetable matter, by acting as a blanket, kept the moving 




A STONE MULCH 

Although many stones are present, the soil is fertile and produces profitable 
fruit. The stones serve as a mulch 



water from rising higher and higher and up to the sur- 
face ; and now no wind can come and take away the 
water just brought up. 

This principle is now well established, and from it has 
been developed the practice of moisture-saving by pro- 
viding a layer of loose, dry soil or mulch, from two to four 
inches deep, at the surface to serve as the blanket that 
shall prevent active moisture-loss : in other words, to 
check the loss by evaporation. 



174 



SOILS 



While frequent stirring of the soil, during the growing 
season, and, especially, in the time of drought, tends to 
produce better crops than if this work is neglected, still, 
it is a wiser practice to begin the work of moisture con- 




A GOOD MULCH 
It is four inches deep and is doing its work 



servation before the drought-period sets in. Hence, you 
must have much water admitted to the soil. You must 
keep it and preserve it until it is in greatest demand. 

Keeping the surface crust broken and loose and mellow 
is the first step; it takes the water in. Conserving it, 
after it is stored, is the second step ; it holds it for the 
plants. 

Mulch-making: make it effective. — In periods of abun- 
dant rainfall, it matters little to you whether you stir your 



SOIL WATER : TIOW TT IS LOST 175 

soil a half inch or four inches deep; for the time being, 
yon are not concerned with the moisture content. But 
during;- dry weather you ought to be careful : you ought 
to interrupt and break the capillary tubes, that connect 
the surface and the immediate lower region, so that the 
escaping water may be kept within the smallest limits. 

Now, as to the depth of the mulch : an inch is good if 
it is even and level and completely separated from the 
tubes below ; if it provides an effective blanket over the 
surface of the soil. Even with so slight a mulch, the 
operation is beneficial, and quite a good deal more effect- 
ive in retaining water than any form of broken tillage, 
although four or five inches deep. In ordinary practice, 
cultivating tools usually are run two or three inches 
deep, and hence a rather good mulch is thereby secured. 

Experiments on this subject indicate the following: 

1. That the water content of the soil is increased to a 
very appreciable extent, when the soil is evenly and uni- 
formly stirred. 

2. That the water content is increased in proportion to 
the depth and effectiveness of the mulch. 

3. That the water content increases less rapidly as the 
depth of cultivation is increased beyond three inches. 

4. That the water content is greater when cultivation is 
provided in a form of mulch, than by ridge culture or 
broken tillage. 



CHAPTER XIX 

DRY FARMING: A PROBLEM IN WATER 
CONSERVATION 

There is a vast empire in the western part of our coun- 
try that was known once as the "Great American Des- 
ert." Here, in the early days, short grass grew and some 
other kinds of less nutritious food. In season buffaloes 
roamed and fed as best they could ; and then the sturdy 
pioneer began his conquest. 

He had examined the land and he wanted it. For the 
broad expanse and the fertile-looking soil tempted him as 
no land before had done : so he came and battled. The 
contest was severe; it was trying; it was exhausting. 

"Before the people of the land 
Had learned to grapple with strong hand 
Soil culture problems, hearts were sore 
And poverty hung 'round the door." 

That was three decades ago when the West was new 
and young, when fat years brought hope and lean years 
despair and anguish. It occurred within an area occupy- 
ing a strip of nearly three himdred million acres, extend- 
ing from Canada on the north and down into Texas on 
the south, from the Rockies on the west to the Missouri 
(including the Dakotas and western Minnesota) on the 
East. 

Into this region people flocked when it was opened to 
settlement. They knew not the land. They knew little 
of the soil. Little was known, in fact, at any place about 
soils. Plants were new to the section and untrained to 
the hardships of the new life. People came from other 



DRY FARMING 



177 



lands where all things were different, and the pioneer 
farmer could farm only as he had been accustomed : and 
he failed, for hot winds caught up the water and de- 
stroyed the crop. 

In those early days water protection had not been 
thought of. The broad principle of water-saving had not 




KAFFIR CORN 
A wonderful crop for semi-arid regions 



been put, as yet, into practice. It was not known. So 
lands were permitted to lose their moisture by evapora- 
tion for the reason that the farmer knew not the way by 
which moisture is made available for roots : of the ab- 
sorption by the soil of winter rains and snow, of its 
remaining in the soil, protected and cared for by tillage 



178 



SOILS 



tool and careful thought in manac^cment until the hot dry 
months, when it will be raised by capillary attraction to 
the surface, or better, raised to the point where the 
root is. 

r^ut the farmer knows about this now. Consequently, 
he pulverizes the top of the soil and he makes a mulch 




CORN rLANTP:R WITH DISK FURROW-OrENEK ATTACHED 
A tool that is very popular in dry-land sections 

there, especially after a rain, so that the soil tubes or 
capillary tubes is broken at the top and the water cov- 
ered in. 

The meaning of dry farming. — Dry farming is not an 
attempt to grow crops without water. It is simply a con- 
trast to irrigation and does connect crops with the mini- 
mum rainfall. The semi-arid belt has a rainfall of from 
fifteen to twenty-two or three inches, annually. If the 
soil be treated in such a manner that the greater part of 



DRY FARMING 179 

this rainfall is carried into the soil and there stored, the 
crop can be saved and a l)ountiful harvest made, although 
there be little rain during- the grovving^ season. 

Dry farniing', or any system akin to water-saving, is 
nothing more than good farming". Its real meaning is 
good tillage ; it means water-saving by good plowing and 
fre(|uent, effective cultivation ; it means crop rotation for 
its sanitary effect; it means humus for the soil for its 
many-sided benefits. Dry farming, means especially these 
things : water is to be absorbed, water is to be saved, and 
plants are to be adapted to their mode of life. 

It is a fact beyond controversy that the average farmer 
rarely comprehends just what land manngement means. 
He plows, of course, but he usually stops there. Mere 
plowing may mean tremendous moisture loss, unless 
cultivation be given — the mulch-making kind — so that the 
capillary tubes of the top and under soil may be discon- 
nected, that the water in the reservoir beneath may not 
get out into the atmosphere al)Ove. 

Since the soil has been studied in the laboratory and 
field, many of the secrets, heretofore hidden and unintelli- 
gible, have been revealed. This revelation tells us that 
many old methods emplo3'ed in the management of 
lands — of tillage and of cultivation — are poor methods, 
indeed. Good farming aims to hold onto the best of the 
old methods and to ado])t every good idea or method that 
is provided and tried. 

Managing stubble lands. — Now, in the summer time we 
find the greatest difficulty, and especially is this true of 
the water supply. \\' eeds, grass, and growing crops are 
at work pumping water out of the soil The winds lick 
water from the surface as fast as it comes to the top. The 
air, so frequently hot and thirsty, pulls into its kingdom 
every bit of vapor or moisture that peeps above the sur- 



l8o SOILS 

face of the earth. Between them, water is sent rapidly 
and constantly into the atmosphere, away from the soil. 

If your lands require water protection, deny it not. 
Maybe your lands are in stul)ble, perhaps in wheat or in 
oats. You wait for weeks or months before you plow and 
prepare the seed-bed. But now it is fashionable (and 
good practice) to treat the land largely from the stand- 
point of moisture control, and at least give water more 





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DOUBLE-DISKING THE LAND 
This sort of tillage pays. Water is both admitted to the soil and held 

consideration than its previous allotment. The old plan 
gave a minimum amount of rain to the soil and took a 
maximum amount of water out of the soil. The new plan 
supplies a maximum quantity of rain to the soil and 
allows a minimum quantity only to find its escape. 

Have you ever tried disking the stubble land, tried disk- 
ing just after harvest? You get these results: water is 
stored and held ; and when you plow a little later, you 
find that the plow works differently to what it has been 
doing heretofore. Now it is more to your liking: it pre- 
pares the land; it leaves it mellow and fine and open; it 
gives the land the ideal tilth. 



DRY FARMING 



I«I 



Disking has contributed largely to this happy result. 
When stubble lands are to pass the fall and winter without 
use — no crop before spring — disking often will provide all 
the tillage that is needed. A few trials will tell you. In- 
deed, you may find by so doing that you may add many 
bushels to your next year's crop. If drought is not in- 
frequent in your vicinity, water storing is a problem with 
you, and it is good business to plan your tillage opera- 
tions in such manner that water may be admitted with 




"ot'T TUl'lxK IN ix v.\>,\,-^ 

Planting corn with six-horse Lister 



ease and held without difficulty during the whole time 
your land is idle or at rest. 

What to do with plowed lands. — Suppose you have 
disked your land or have fall-plowed it — what is the next 
step? As I see it, the next step is just like unto the first: 
it is continued preparation. Just this : use the disk as 
soon as weather conditions permit in the spring. You are 
to plow, of course, — at least, you are to plow your stiff 
lands: but use the disk (in the West the lister may be 



l82 



SOILS 



wisely used for this purpose), that the winter crust may 
be broken so as to admit freely the spring rains. Then it 
will pay. It adds to the cost, I know, but you put the 
water — immense stores of it — into the reservoir below 
that will be at your service and command when the call 
of the summer has come. 

This sort of intensive culture may not be needed if rains 
are abundant when the growing season is in progress ; 
still, too little water enters. Even in wet seasons crops 




SUB-SURFACE PACKING 
This tool firms the soil, breaks the clods and levels the surface 



sufifer for water — at least, at times, and a goodly supply 
on hand may not be amiss. And, after all, water sinks 
into the soil rather slowly, at best, and a summer rain 
may never get down where the roots grow. Summer 
rains, by starting water upwards and by destroying the 
mulch, may assist even in drying the land. 

Sub-surface packing: a dry-farming tool. — You may 



DRY FARMING 



183 



have water in the soil, but which works to the top so 
slowly, newly planted seeds may get too little and so will 
not sprout and develop. If you are so situated that such 
is the case, you will find that packing the land will assist 
in correcting the difficulty. Just press the soil grains to- 
gether, and the capillary flow will be improved : it will 
work. 

A new tool — the sub-surface packer — has come into use 
to do just this thing. It is a sort of roller — a bevel wheel 
roller — that cuts like a disk and compacts like a roller. 
Its manner of construction secures packing of the soil just 
beneath the surface and 
not at the top. As mois- 
ture is drawn to the sur- 
face, it stops where the 
seed lay, since the surface 
is broken by the packer 
and is left as a mulch, and 
hence the surface loss is 
minimized. By packing 
the upper layer of the soil 
a free movement of the 
soil moisture is allowed. 
This moisture is concen- 
trated at a point just be- 
neath the surface and at 
a point where needed by 
seed and new spreading 
roots. 

The firm stratum thus 
made by the surface pack- 
er brings up the water, but serves as a resistance in 
its movement out of the soil. This cultural operation, 
combined with the mulch on top, offers a fairly effective 




DRY-LAND FARMING 

A yield of 65 bushels per acre, with a 
rainfall of but 20 inches annually 



1 84 SOILS 

trap and assists in preventing water loss. Extreme treat- 
ment like this, perhaps, is necessary only in regions where 
the water loss is large and the rainfall small. While the 
sub-surface packer is peculiarly a semi-arid tool, it doubt- 
less will, in time, secure favor in humid lands, also. 

Water-saving: a universal problem. — If it were possi- 
ble to estimate the shortage of crops due to lack of water 
in arid or humid regions, the figures would surprise even 
the most faithful of the creed of water-saving. While the 
problem is immense, the solution is easy. I doubt if at- 
tention can be applied in any direction that will bring so 
great and so lasting returns as that given to water-con- 
servation : a problem that includes every phase of soil 
management from the time water is taken into the soil 
until it is used by the growing crop. 

In the past, we have given attention largely to the 
chemical side of soils : to that side having to do with 
plant food. But recent study brings us to a realization 
that water is important: just as important as is plant 
food. Hence, no effort in soil management will bring so 
good results as will a conscientious effort directed along 
the line of moisture control. 



CHAPTER XX 

TILLAGE TOOLS: WHAT THEY ARE FOR; HOW TO 

USE THEM 

One of the most expensive things a man can do is to 
move dirt. 

No tool has ever been invented that moves so great 
quantities of soil for so little money as the plow. No 
farm implement is more in use, nor is any more essential, 
yet Professor Roberts declares that in America plowing 
is the least understood and the most imperfectly per- 
formed operation in connection with our preparation of 
land for crops. 

We know how to plow, but how few of us really know 
when and why to plow. The only reasons why people 
used to plow were to get crops in and to kill the weeds. 
It is no wonder to me that at one time people hated to 
plow. With primitive tools it was hard work ; and it, too, 
was slow work. 

The first plow was a sharpened stick.^ — The first plow 
was the sharpened stick. But man is lazy : he soon aban- 
dons this most primitive of all forms of tillage, selects a 
forked stick, ties it to the horns of a bull, and makes the 
animal do most of the work. 

Thousands of plows have been invented since this early 
type, but there is no change in the i)rinciple. The motive 
power has changed ; the long end of the forked stick has 
been succeeded by a beam of finished wood or steel ; the 
short end has been metamorphosed into a chilled steel 
point and moldboard ; the rough hand knot has been sup- 
planted by curving handles or a driver's seat; but for all 



1 86 



SOILS 



these improvements, there has l^cen no radical change in 
the tool. 

The work the modern plow should do. — Now, what 
should this modern plow, evolved from the crooked stick, 
do for the land? How shall a man know when he has a 
good plow, how shall he know when he is doing capital 




IDEAL PLOWING 

The soil is pulverized and all rubbish is buried. Th" right sort of seed-bed 
can be made now with ease 

work? In the first place, the effective plow turns the 
land ; the furrow slice is laid entirely over, or it is set up 
well on edge. In either case, it must cover manure, trash, 
or green crops. 

In the second place, the plow should go deep into the 




FURROW SLICES THAT ARE TOO FLAT 

While all herbage is covered, the soil is pulverized poorly. It is not so good as 

it looks 



ground. This for two reasons : deep plowing, as stated 
heretofore, enables the soil to drink in and to hold more 
water against the time of drought. Deep plowing gives 
plant roots a wider pasture. 



TILLAGE TOOLS: WHAT TIIFA' ARE FOR 187 

In the third place, the effective ])Iow must pulverize the 
furrow slice turned out. Turning- the land is not enough ; 
the soil must be broken, fined, and mellowed. We get 
these results by means of the sharj), bold curve that is 
given the moldboard. A plow that does not thoroughly 
pulverize the soil is a poor plow. It may make a hand- 
some furrow, cover the ground well, plunge far into 
the ground, and still do poor plowing: unless it leaves 
the soil in so friable a condition that the other tillage tools 
can easily and economically do their part, it has fallen 
short of its duty. 

Aim to get a furrow slice that is set well on edge, with 
a snap as it comes from the moldboard. This is the sort 
that the harrow uses best for completing the bed for 
seeds. 

In addition to plowing in order to get a pulverized, 
deep, warm, moisture-holding plant bed, we must plow 
with a view to bettering the physical condition of the 
land. Hence, we should aim to get deep and uniform 
plowing done in every field. 

An example of poor plowing. — Recently, I stood at one 
place in a newly plowed field and counted fifty-eight 
places left unj^lowcd, because the plowman had carelessly 
let his plow jump out of the ground. This was not only 
poor plowing, but it showed that the plow-holder was 
ignorant of one of the first principles of tillage — namely, 
that plowing releases plant food stored in the soil. The 
places skipped i)y the plow, then, even if the seeds germi- 
nated in them, would have less plant food to furnish the 
crops on them, than the plowed portions on the same field 
have. Why? Because the roots get in another manner 
all the products in the storehouse. 

The subsoil plow: the work it has to do. — In this work 
of rendering plant food available, the subsoil plow is espe- 



i88 



SOILS 



cially valuable. Its power to go deep opens new pastures 
to plant roots. The closely packed soil, untouched by 
other plows, is made fertile and friable. The subsoil plow 
brings this new zone, with its accumulated reserve of 
plant nutrients, within reach of the plants. It almost adds 
a new farm to the old one. 

Subsoiling is an expensive process, yet in no other way 
can the hard floor under the top soil — a floor that plant 




PLOWING LEVEES FOR RICE 



roots vainly seek to penetrate; a floor that turns the' rain 
above it, and imprisons the food beneath it — in no other 
way can this floor be broken through. In no other way 
can the sun, air, and moisture be admitted to the depths 
below, where they are needed to fit the soil for an ideal 
plant home. In no other way can undissolved plant food, 
held fast in the dark compounds below, be liberated. 



TILLAGE tools: WHAT TIIEY ARE FOR 189 

Of course, all lands do not need to be subsoiled. Your 
own judgment will determine this for you. In many 
cases, plants will do the work, provided the hard pan is 
neither too thick nor too hard. The cow pea, the soy 
bean, and the clover plant arc all good subsoilers. Have 
you ever tried them? Here is just the point: you better 
have one acre properly prepared and tilled, than several 
imperfectly cultivated. Your reasons will be greater, for 
all the first expense of this sort of tillage, and of the seed 
and labor, is saved by getting your recpiired crop from 
fewer acres. 

Long, long ago Poor Richard said, "Plow deep, while 
the sluggards sleep"'; and, although Richard would have 
been sadly puzzled to give the reason for this aphorism, 
he was right both from an economical and a cultural point 
of view. You will agree with me that proper plowing is 
essential to prosperous farming. The farmer gives less 
thought to the kind of plow that he shall use, than the 
carriage in which he rides. It is a sad thing to see, but 
he does just that thing. 

The one-horse plow: a tool of the past. — In many parts 
of the country we find one-horse plows in extensive use, 
yet none of the aims of tillage are attained by the shallow- 
running, one-horse plow. Nor can this tool be defended 
on the ground of economy. The two-horse walking plow 
not only does farm work better, but it does as much work 
as two one-horse plows, and saves the labor of one man. 

The two-horse or the four-horse walking plow ought 
soon find a place on even the smallest farm. The sooner 
you send the one-horse plow to the museum, along with 
the crooked plows and the hand-spinning frames, the bet- 
ter it will be for your farm : the better it will be for you. 

Some other kinds of plows. — The sulky plow is coming 
into favor, although somewhat gradually. On level land 



TILLAGE tools: WITAT TIIRY ARE FOR IQT 

there is little difference in draft between the walking plow 
and the sulky plow. The draft of the sulky is slightly 
increased in going up hill ; hence, the wheel plow is at a 
disadvantage, somewhat, on hilly land, but on level land 
it is to be preferred because it pulls no harder and does 
its work with care, certainty, and accuracy. 

The disk plow is fast coming into favor. It pulverizes 
well, and covers trash in an effective manner. It, how- 
ever, cannot be used, practically, in stony land. This 
kind of plow is well adapted to hard, gummy soils, in 
which it is difficult to keep the required depth with the 
moldboard plow, and it is preferable to the latter in 
breaking hard-pan and hard-baked topsoils. This tool is 
generally satisfactory where deep plowing is to be done, 
always leaving the soil in a loose, broken condition. This 
plow is now made for horses and for steam. 

The gang plow is intended for large areas. It requires 
the emplo3^ment of several horses or of an engine, but a 
single man can operate it. and perhaps do better work 
than he could, if guiding a single plow by hand. This 
sort of plow finds its place on extensive farms that are 
level and free from rock, ledges, and ditches. It is used 
largely in the West, but there is no reason, however, why 
small steam plows should not be used to good advantage 
in every section of the country. Generally speaking, 
steam-plowed land is plowed no deeper than that done by 
horse power, but steam does the work more economically. 

Every plow that has been made, and has stood the test 
of time, is built on the principle of a double wedge — one 
force of the wedge acting in a vertical, the other in a 
horizontal plane. The plows of the future will doubtless 
be built on a similar plan, but the constant aim will be 
to make them penetrate to a greater depth, and pulverize 
the soil more fully. The nearer the plow achieves this 



192 



SOILS 



end, the greater will be the soil reservoir for holding 
water and soluble plant food. 

The tools of preparation : their work. — The harrow fol- 
lows the plow. You need this tool in connection with the 
roller, to complete the pulverization of the soil, begun by 




WHERE ROLLING DOES LITTLE GOOD 

The clods are too hard— and so the work is not done effectively. Clay lands 
mvist be worked at just the right time to get the desired results 



the plow. Both of these tools mellow the soil and push 
the particles nearer to one another. You have observed 
that the cloddy spots found in a fertile field make a poor 
harvest. In these places the bad condition of the soil 
excludes moisture and pens in plant food, hence this lack 
of fruitfulness. 

The harrow and roller will correct this trouble. You 
cannot be too painstaking, when it comes to harrowing. 



TILLAGE tools: WHAT TIIKY ARK FOR I93 

A field may look well after a harrow has g-one over it, 
but this does not necessarily mean that the work has been 
done well. For this reason, you should always examine 
carefully to see whether the soil has been uniformly pul- 
verized, and the particles pressed in close contiguity. 

While few men catch the spirit of plowing, a still less 
number catch the spirit of harrowing. The harrow is the 
tool to complete disintegration and pulverization. It 
should go three, four, or even five inches into the soil. 
The harrow teeth should go down well below the surface, 
and work among clods and lumps ; they should either 
break all clods and lumps, or bring them to the surface 
where they can be ground and crumbled by subsequent 
tillage. 

A field is never well harrowed until the interstices be- 
tween the coarser particles are filled with a sifting in of 
the finer particles. When this has been accomplished, the 
seeds have a perfect chance to sprout and grow; the soil 
is well fitted to take care of its water supply. 

One kind of harrow is not enough : it will not do for 
all seasons, nor for all soils. Here arc the things the 
harrow must do: it must smooth, cut, level, spade, pul- 
verize, and compact. No harrow can do all these, hence, 
you will need different kinds to do all the work involved 
in harrowing well and effectively. 

The fine-tooth, smoothing harrow should have a place 
on every farm. It levels and disintegrates, and it comes 
in handily for intertillage : it docs splendidly on corn and 
cotton land after planting is done. 

The spring-tooth harrow should be had, as it comes in 
nicely where you have leveling and smoothing to do, or 
where a heavy rain has compacted the soil too hard for 
seeding purposes. 

In addition to these, you should have a disk or cut-away 



194 



SOILS 



harrow. You will find it very valuable — in fact, indis- 
pensable — for many kinds of farm work. Such a harrow 
takes the place of the plow in seeding Avheat or rye, after 
corn or cotton or cow peas or potatoes. The rolling disk 
cuts and turns and pulverizes, and thus does the work of 
a plow, although it does not go so deeply. But since you 
want a compact soil, excepting the top, this becomes the 
very implement for your work. Fields that have just 




THE ACME HARROW 

A splendid mulch maker, weed killer and all 'round cultivator. Note the 
cracked and crusted soil at right, and after-treatment at left 



been disked and then crossed with a spring-tooth harrow 
are usually left smooth and mellow, and in a fine condi- 
tion for the seeding tools. 

The disk harrow is an excellent tool to use immediately 
after the harvest as a means of opening the soils to catch 
summer rains, and of conserving the moisture already 
present in the soil. In our dryer sections, especially in 
semi-arid regions, this plan of soil treatment is coming 



Tii-i.ACH tools: what 'nii:Y are i-or 



195 



into jiracticc, and is to be comniciulcd. If you find clods 
(Ml top, the wooden dra,^" or roller will be the next imple- 
ment to use. 'J'he wooden drat;' grinds the clods and 
lumps; and is also a ^"ood implement for levelini^ pur- 
poses. The roller is primarily a crushing- and compactint^ 



jll 


b^ 




t ..^^af^c^^ffl 


K^^ 




BaaK^sesc^w^'BfcitVT. .v . - - r'^^OLfc^SgH^B 


i^^^i-^- 












^.. . 




m^i- 






*!* ■^^■. ^ : :■-.■'': , ^ 






f^fP^^.^--:-:^j^: ' ' - ' " 








-, 


A ' 



A STEP IN SOIL PREPARATION 

The effect of the sprinp-tooth harrow, after the roller, is .shown in the picture. 
- This tool is splendid for loosening hard soils, for leveling and for stirring 



tool. While it is effective as a crusher, it drives the dry, 
hard clods into the surface soil. 

You will find the roller most desirable diirin<;- dry sea- 
sons for com])actins4- the soil so that capillarity may be 
restored, and moisture from the great reservoir down in 
the soil be drawn up to the seeds and roots. This, how- 
ever, may prove harmful, for you may induce a too rapid 
evaporation, and thus destroy your reserve supply. You 



196 SOILS 

can minimize this harmful effect by using a smoothing 
harrow, a few da^^s after the roller. Fortunate is the 
farmer who becomes a believer in the practice of making 
the soil firm for all seeds and plants. 

Compacting the soil increases water content. — The 
market gardener has lead the way here. Just note how he 
uses his feet to accomplish this very purpose : he knows 
that it pays — in fact, that it is clearly necessary to make 
firm soil about the newly planted plants or seeds. This is 
important in dry, hot weather in loose, poor soils. The 
farm roller and gardener's feet both accomplish the same 
work. Both compact the soil ; start the water in the soil 
below on an upward course that brings it to the seeds and 
roots that need it. 

When this has been accomplished, a smoothing harrow, 
with its little teeth, should be run over the land so as to 
break off the tops of the capillary tubes ; and thus make 
a mulch of the top soil, and check the evaporation of the 
soil water. 

The cultivating tools involved in the tillage of the soil 
answer three purposes: they kill weeds; they provide a 
much-needed mulch, especially in dry climates, so as to 
preserve moisture ; and they release plant food. The old 
one-shovel plow is fast giving way to the shallow culti- 
vator with several shovels. We no longer expect to use 
intercultural tools for preparing the soil for root develop- 
ment : we do that now at seeding time. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE CULTIVATION OF CROPS: THE TOOLS AND THE 
PURPOSES 



The cultivating- tools involved in the intcrculture of 
crops serve three purposes: they release plant food ; they 
kill weeds ; and they pro- 
vide a mulch so as to pre- 
vent the loss of soil water. 
The modern idea is to cul- 
tivate the soil in a man- 
ner that a shallow and 
mellow mulch will be 
made, the work being 
especially designed for 
the purpose of water-sav- 
ing. Hence, the old shovel 
plow that went deep into 
the soil has been replaced 
almost entirely by mod- 
ern tools that never reach 
the lower depths of the 
soil nor touch the roots 
of the plant. The one- 
horse plow, now used so 
much in the cotton and 
corn fields of the South, is 
likewise losing its popu- 
larity and is being suc- 

, , , / ,, CORN ROOTS 

Ceeded by more shallow- They occupy the entire space be- 

rilltivTtincT tnnlt: \v\th c(^\r tween the rows to within a few 

CUIllvaung tools Wltn Sev- inclies of the surface. Do you 

f>rpl ^lio\'pl<i Tf w nnnr wonder why deep cultivation in- 

erai snoveiS. it is poor jures the crop? 




198 



SOILS 



business to use interculture tools to prepare the soil for 
root development — that injures the crop ; and such work 
should be done before seeding- time. 

Interculture tools: the weeder and many-shovel culti- 
vators. — The weeder ranks first in popularity as a tool for 
beginning the work of cultivation. It runs shallow; its 
many teeth destroy the tiny weeds just peeping through 




CULTIVATING THE ORCHARD 
Orchards respond often to cultivation as generously as corn fields 



the ground ; its complete soil-stirring makes a fairly ef- 
fective mulch. The weeder can be used two or three 
times in cultivating most crops, especially if soil is loose 
and if it is to be followed by some other kind of cultivator. 
If you would not have the weeder, you can use the 
smoothing harrow to almost equal advantage when the 
plants are short and small. After the crop is somewhat 



THE CULTIVATION OF CROPS 



199 



grown, the weeder is impracticable for further use ; and 
the niany-shovcl cultivator takes its place. 

All sorts of cultivators arc available: they are of many 
makes and of many kinds. Perhaps the most numerous 
sorts are the two-horse cultivators — walking and riding — 
that permit one man to do the work of two men with 
single cultivators, doing the work just as well and with 
less fatigue. Double cultivators are made with shovels, 
disks, and spring teeth. Shovels and spring teeth are 
most in use, although for some kinds of work the disks 
are to be preferred. The latter are especially good to cut 
and cover in weedy land. Their fault lies in the ridges 
they make. It is level culture that you want, and this is 
difficult to get with a disk cultivator unless conditions are 
ideal. In wet lands, cultivation is resorted to as a drain- 
age operation ; in this case, the disk cultivator is the best 
tool you can use. 

Cultivation rids the land of weeds. — Lands must be 
kept free from weeds, else the best results will never be 
possible. This is shown by a test at the New Hampshire 
Experiment Station. The plan of the experiment and 
yields are shown in the table : 



Plot 



Treatment Given 



No culture — weeds allowed to grow 

Mulch — 4 inches old hay 

Shallow cultivation — 5 times 

Shallow cultivation — 16 times 

Deep cultivation — 5 times 



Bushels of 
shelled corn 



Much of the story of cultivation is told in these results. 
The need of culture is recognized at a glance. When 



THE CULTIVATION OF CROPS 201 

weeds are allowed to grow, they poison the land, steal 
plant food, rob the soil of its water, and shade the earth. 
It may cost something in labor and effort to keep weeds 
away, but it costs a great deal more to let them grow. 

We find several other interesting facts in these results. 
The four inches of ha}\ used as a mulch, did not secure 
the best yield. An abundance of water was held in the 
soil ; but the soil was cold — too cold — and the crop was 
cut short. 

The dry earth mulch is better. It is better than a vege- 
table mulch, when either deep or shallow culture is given. 
It is a great deal less expensive, also. And it is effective ; 
it keeps the water in the soil. 

You will note but a slight difference between the two 
plots that were given frequent and infrequent shallow 
culture. What is the significance? Just this: there was 
no need for the excessive culture. The five cultivations 
did all that was needed: the mulch was made and main- 
tained and the weeds were destroyed. All that was 
needed was on hand and the work was done. Hence, a 
moderate amount of cultivation, if it be done well, if it 
keeps weeds out and water in, is to be preferred to very 
frequent cultivation ; not because it is less effective, but 
because it is a less expensive practice. 

When the shallow and deep cultivated plots are com- 
pared, a slight difference is noticed — a difference of eight 
bushels per acre in favor of shallow cultivation. In this 
case, some of the roots of the deep-cultivated plot were 
disturbed and injured — we noticed that — and the yield 
was cut short. Had this not been the case, the yield 
might have been just as good ; it might have been 
better. 

The depth to cultivate growing crops. — This gives rise 
to the question : How deep shall we cultivate? That ques- 



202 



SOILS 



tion has been answered with quite a good deal of cer- 
taint3^ At least a half hundred carefully planned and 
executed experiments have, by their results, answered in 

favor of shallow cultiva- 
tion. Since then we have 
heard much about this 
new idea in cultivating 
the soil. But we are in 
danger of going to the 
other extreme. Our 
fathers "plowed" corn ; 
they cultivated too deep. 
Some of us, perhaps, cul- 
tivate too shallow ; we 
get in trouble with weeds ; 
and because of our thin 
mulch, let the water get 
away from the soil. 

In sections where there 
is much rain, the shal- 
low extreme may do ; but 
where moisture is de- 
manded — in the North, 
where the ground is fro- 
zen for so manv months : 
in the semi-arid regions, 
where the supply is gen- 
erally limited — a deeper 
mulch and a more effec- 
tive mulch is to be prefer- 
red. Four inches, per- 
CATALPA TREE WITH ONE haps, is too much and one 

season's growth inch is too little. A bet- 

But it was cultivated just like corn, , Ae^ufh iQ frr>m two to 

and profited by the culture it got LCr QCpin IS irom IWO tO 




THE CULTIVATION OF CROPS 203 

three inches ; better for weed destruction and j:^ood enoiiii^h 
for mulch making. 

A most important point: level culture, — You will find 
farmers who still rid^^e their crops: they "hill" the crop 
that it may not be blown over by winds, nor pulled down 
by storms and rain. But have you ever noticed that 
near-by crops, although given level culture, are no more 
troubled by storms and wind than the hilled and ridged 
crops? Often not so much, is the true situation. 

Hilling and ridging the crop is advisable for just one 
reason : to drain the land. With proper drainage and seed- 
bed preparation, there is no occasion for either of these 
expensive practices. 

Level culture, since it exposes a smaller area to sun 
and wind than ridge culture, actually protects, with 
greater efficiency, the water stores in the soil. Bedding 
the land is often advisable with some soils (although it 
increases the cost of planting), for the reason it secures 
a small amount of drainage and a greater warmth to the 
soil. 

When to cultivate. — You must be in sympathy with 
the spirit of cultivation if you would get the best results. 
You must do it at the time when the soil is in the best con- 
dition to profit by the work. Just after a rain, the word 
goes out. But use your judgment here, else you may 
cultivate too early after the rain and "puddle" your land. 
When the next rain comes, the crust caused by the culti- 
vation may be so hard and stiff the rain may slip away 
before it can secure entrance through the stubborn top. 

Here is the better plan : just wait until the soil is 
slightly dried ; enough so that when it is stirred it will not 
settle and connect with the capillary tubes below — thus 
defeating the very object you set about to secure. In 
times when you are depending upon cultivation for water 



204 



SOILS 



preservation it will be worth your while to watch the 
mulch, to see if it is still an effective blanket or if the 
connection with the capillary tubes below is beginning 
to take place. If the latter be so, it is high time that 
you repeat the cultivating work. 

Water-saving means early work, — Water-saving falls 
into two means — the catching- and holding of it. You 




LOSING WATER FROM THE SOIL 

The soil is cracked to some depth below. Soil moisture is fast leaving the 
ground, and the soil is in bad physical condition 



first must get water into the soil, and then you can use 
it ; provided, of course, 3^ou do not let it escape before it 
is needed. Too many tillers of the soil fail to understand 
that the most important principle at stake in water-saving 
is to till and cultivate in such a manner that there is free 
access of water into the soil. Then it can be preserved 



THE CULTIVATION OF CROPS 205 

by cultivation and mulches throug^hout the season. But 
failures in supplying water, although effective culture — 
mulch making — is given during the growing season, are 
certain to happen if no water is in the soil to be conserved. 
If you would have water for plants for the time when 
they shall need it, if you would have soil water for them 
for later use, make no mistake about first getting it in 
the soil, and the rest of the work will be easy. 
Just bear in mind these suggestions : 

1. Getting ready for crops — opening soils and catching 
water — is of more importance than after cultivation. 

2. Get water deep into the soil and you will have bigger 
stores of supply. 

3. Cultivate after every rain, not when the soil is real 
wet, but before it becomes very dry. 

4. Make your mulch deep enough — three inches is none 
too deep in dry regions. 

5. Open the soil early in the spring with a disk if you 
have not fall-plowed or winter-tilled. 

6. Stir unused summer lands frequently so as to let 
water in and to keep it in for the next crop. 

7. Lands frozen up for long periods — like in the New 
England territory — are as needful of water-saving as 
those of the semi-arid or dry farming districts. 



CHAPTER XXII 

STABLE MANURE: ITS COMPOSITION AND ITS 
PRESERVATION 

The potential plant food contained in a ton of manure 
is dependent upon five factors : the amount of water in 
the manure ; the sort of feed that has been given the 
animals ; the kind and quantity of bedding that has been 
used ; the care and preservation that has been given ; and 
the class of live stock. 

All manure contains water. — iManure contains a great 
deal of water. If used by weight, it is readily seen how 
much less valuable a lot of manure containing much water 
is, when compared with another lot containing a less per- 
centage. Suppose one lot contains eighty per cent, of 
water and another lot sixty per cent. 

In the first instance there is twenty per cent, of dry mat- 
ter, while in the second instance there is as much as forty 
per cent, or twice as much dry matter, and, consequently, 
twice as much plant food. In the first instance, if eighty 
per cent, is water, you have but four hundred pounds of 
dry matter in every ton of manure. 

In the second instance, sixty per cent, being water, you 
have eight hundred pounds of manure — just double the 
quantity. Four tons per acre of the latter kind applied to 
the soil is as valuable, from the standpoint of potential 
plant food, as eight tons of that kind containing eighty 
per cent, of water. 

The nature of the feed. — Animals fed on corn stover, 
timothy hay, cotton-seed hulls, and corn produce 
manure of inferior quality compared with that pro- 



STABLE MANURE 



207 




208 



SOILS 



diiced by animals when fed on alfalfa, clover, cotton-seed 
meal, wheat bran, and linseed meal. Manure secured from 
such feeding is very rich in fertilizing components, and is 
worth much more to the soil than the manure made when 
non-nitrogenous feeds are supplied. 

How few users of stable manure, even in sections where 
large quantities are produced, appreciate this point! You 
ought to be interested just as much in the kinds of feed 
that have been used as you are in the price you pay for 
the manure, or in the cost necessary for getting manure 
onto the land. The table following shows the difference 
in fertilizing materials in a few common feeding stuffs: 



Feeding Stuff 


Fertilizing Elements in One Ton 


Money Value 

of Fertilizing 

Elements 


Nitrogen 


Phosphorus 


Potassium 




lo.o 
18.4 

39-6 
33-0 
49-2 
135.6 


1.8 

6.6 

7.2 

II. 8 

57.8 

56.2 


14.4 
28.4 
42.0 
7-4 
32.2 
29.2 


I2.31 

4-57 

8.53 

6.03 

12.58 

25 16 




Red clover hay 

Corn 


Wheat bran 


Cotton-seed meal 



Note. — Values have been recorded as follows: Nitrogen, 15 cents; phos- 
phorus, 6 cents ; potassium, 5 cents. 



Bedding has a part. — That bedding has a part in influ- 
encing the value is generally recognized. Straw bedding 
is worth a great deal more to the land than shavings or 
sawdust. If a great deal of poor bedding is used in pro- 
portion to the food consumed, the resultant manure is not 
so good. If rich grain food is fed the stock and little 
bedding used, the manure, if properly preserved, will be 
extremely valuable. Just bear in mind this about bed- 



STABLE MANURE 



209 



ding: it is intended to furnish clean quarters for animals, 
to absorb and retain liquid excrement, to check and con- 
trol fermentation and nitrogen loss. Hence, it dilutes 
manure rather than improves its chemical composition. 

Care in keeping manure. — The average farmer is quite 
wasteful with his stable manure: he certainly does not 
take good care of it. There is not a single section of the 
country that does not pre- 
sent examples which show 
manure as being wasted in 
exposed barnyards, or 
piled under eaves, or as 
being washed away, and 
so poorly preserved that 
the greater part of the ni- 
trogen therein held is re- 
leased by fermentation 
and sent out into the air. 

The kind of live stock 
influences value. — Inas- 
much as different feeding 
rations are fed our many 
classes of animals, it fol- 
lows that the value of the manure bears a direct relation 
to this fact. Hence, growing animals, dairy cows, 
and other animals receiving feeding stuffs relatively high 
in nitrogenous foods produce fertilizing products of richer 
fertilizing values than fattening animals or other classes 
fed more carbonaceous feeding materials. 

Full-grown animals, neither gaining nor losing weight, 
excrete practically all of the fertilizing constituents of the 
food, while milch cows excrete on an average of seventy 
per cent., and fattening cattle and work horses about 
ninety per cent. 




LOSING FERTILITY 

Thousands of cattle are fed annually 
in yards, wliere the valuable parts 
of the manure waste into streams 
—forever lost to the soil 



2IO 



SOILS 



The table following shows the composition of average 
farm manures : 



Fresh Manure Substance 



Cow manure 

Horse manure 

Sheep manure 

Hog manure 

Hen manure 

Mixed stable manure 



Pounds per 


Ton 


Nitrogen 


Ph 


osphorus 


Potassium 


6.80 




3.20 




8.00 


11.60 




5.60 




10.60 


17.60 




4.60 




13.40 


g.oo 




3.80 




12.00 


32.60 




31.80 




17.00 


10.00 




5.20 




12.60 



Solid and liquid manure. — In the liquid portions of the 
manure the digested nitrogen is found, as is also the 
larger part of the potassium. This explains why the loss 
is so great, from a money standpoint, when liquid manure 
is not preserved properly by absorbents, or otherwise held 
so as to prevent its loss from being washed away. Yet 
in just this way the greater value of stable manure is 
never secured to the farm. On the average farm little 
consideration is given this liquid portion. And then to 
think : it is the most valuable product made on the farm. 
And you let it get away ! 

In the undigested portions of manure some nitrogen is 
present also. A large part of the phosphorus is contained 
in the solid parts. Since nitrogen and potassium are con- 
tained in liquid manures, and, at the same time, are very 
soluble in water, the active influence of this sort of 
manure in forcing vegetation is recognized at once. You 
can do no wiser thing than to begin at once in the saving 
of all liquid manures — clearly the most valuable home- 
produced manure. 



STABLK MANURE 



2IT 



Preserving stable manures. — If you would protect your 
farni-niadc manures, you nuist al)oHsh tliat old barnyard 
built on a hill, the drainage of which finds its way to the 
creek, where shortly it is picked up by the waters and 
carried away. i\Iayl)e your barnyard is not this sort, but 
a number of 3'our neighbors have this kind. And here is 
the ])oint : no one can afford such expensive barnyards; 
too much valuable ca])ital — real soil fertility — is lost each 




A COVERED BARNYARD 
Cattle are protected and the manure is preserved 



year. You can do one of two things : build a covered 
barnyard, where manure and stock are covered and pro- 
tected, or you can remake the old barnyard by banking 
up the lower side and by scooping a hollow out of the 
middle. Now, in neither case can the manure be washed 
away. 

If the bottom of this newly made yard is of clay, there 
will be little or no leachmg, and hence practically no loss. 
On the other hand, if the bottom and sides are of a sand 
nature, spongy in character rather than impervious, it will 
be necessary to do more work before a good job is 



212 SOILS 

secured. Some advise cement for the bottom and sides 
for this purpose — a most satisfactory way out of the diffi- 
culty and one that will last. 

But the covered barnyard is better. And it is better for 
the manure and for the stock. The open barnyard, 
although it may protect against washing and leaching, 
still may allow fermentation to go on as before, which 
means organic matter is destroyed and nitrogen is lost. 
This objection is removed almost entirely when manure is 
hauled direct to the fields or made and preserved under 
the covered barnyard. 

The most practical scheme for a cheaply constructed 
building that serves as storage for hay, shelter for stock, 
covered barnyard for manures, and at the same time pro- 
vides stable accommodations, with which I am familiar, is 
the Erf system. 

The Erf system of stabling and preserving manure. — 
The general plan is as follows : In this system location is 
a very important factor. The building should be built on 
high ground, but if such is not available, the soil should 
be tile drained to avoid dampness in the barnyard. In 
arranging the system, a large area is covered with cheap 
roofing, in the center of which is a hay shed ; on one 
side of this is a milking stable connected with a feed 
room for concentrated feeds, and a second room to be 
used as a milk room. In this plan the cows are kept in 
the covered barnyard, except during milking time, where 
they are fed all kinds of roughage feeds. At milking time 
a portion of the cows are driven into the milking stable — 
which is constructed in the most sanitary manner — and 
fed their concentrated feeds ; they are then returned to the 
covered yard, and the remaining portion admitted to the 
milking stable. By such a plan a large number of cows 
can be accommodated with small stable provisions. The 



STAfiLE MANURE 2I3 

most sanitary arrang^ements may thus be provided with 
no great outlay of money, considering the number of cows 
and the serviceable and sanitary arrangement. 

To construct a stable of this kind, proceed as follows : 
Place twelve-inch cedar poles fourteen feet in length, two 
feet into the ground. The base of the posts should be 
set in concrete in order to give greater bearing surface 
and to preserve the wood. In setting the posts allow 
twelve feet to project out of the ground. These posts may 
be placed twelve feet apart, depending a little on the 
height — the higher the barn, the closer it is necessary to 
place them. A two-by-six plate is placed on top of these 
posts, set edgewise to receive the two-by-four rafters 
placed sixteen inches from the center, upon which the 
roof boards and roof are placed. The center posts — here 
is where the haymow comes in — should be at least eigh- 
teen feet high, and should be connected and covered in 
the same manner as described before. 

The roof may be made of cheap roofing material cov- 
ered with tar and then with sand. The slope of the roof 
need not be more than one inch — a half inch will do — 
for each running foot. If you wish a cheaply constructed 
stable, using this sort of roofing will secure it. If a leak 
should occur, all you have to do is to remove the excess 
gravel, add a little more tar, and then place a patch of 
paper over the part that leaks. This is covered again 
with tar and gravel, and the leak is stopped. The more 
of this patching that is done, the more durable the roof 
becomes. It is simple, and can be accomplished with ease 
at any season of the year. 

For this kind of roofing, steep-pitch roofs must be 
avoided, for the reason that during the summer months 
the tar softens from the heat of the sun and not infre- 
quently runs off the roof. 



2T4 SOILS 

The sides may be boarded with up-and-down and bat- 
ten, or batten-siding may be used. Sufificient bracing is 
necessary to keep the boards from warping, hence, a 
proper re-enforcing of the sides is necessary. 

It is essential that as many windows be put in the sides 
of the barn as is practical to use ; in fact, it is a wise plan 
and the most sanitary form of construction to have a 
continuous window scheme five feet from the ground to 
within one foot of the eaves. Besides, with the cheapness 
of construction in such a system of stabling, the comfort- 
ableness for the stock that is provided by such a barn, and 
the sanitary features it offers for the production of milk, 
the Erf system will become more and more in use and 
gradually gain in favor and popularity. It will solve the 
manure-saving problem and pay its entire cost through 
this item alone. 

It is necessary to have plenty of bedding at all times 
for this system of stabling. But the yard is cleaned only 
at such times when soil is dry enough and weather of such 
a nature as to permit the hauling of manure onto the 
field. The manure is loaded direct into the spreader and 
goes to the field in the best condition, and under the most 
favorable circumstances so far as availability of plant food 
and original state of the organic matter are concerned. 

By allowing manure to accumulate for a foot or more 
in depth, and by frequent use of such preservatives as 
kainit, gypsum, or rock phosphate, spread over the ma- 
nure, a slight fermentation only takes place, and hence, 
but a slight loss of nitrogen results. Yet decomposition 
has advanced sufficiently to make the manure readily 
available for use in the soil. 

The air in the stable in this way is kept pure and 
wholesome. 

The advantage of the hay shed in the middle of the 



STABLE MANURE 215 

covered yard and stabling system is that labor is saved 
dtiring feeding operations. Racks are provided along the 
hay rick or mow under the covered yard, into which hay 
or other roughage is thrown from the top of the rick, 
thus avoiding any hauling, double handling or other 
minor loss of roughage that is necessary with other 
stabling systems. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

HANDLING MANURE ON THE FARM 

There are two important uses of stable manure : to 
furnish plant food and to improve the physical condition 
of the soil. To get both results you must take proper 
care of every bit made on the farm. 




LETTING THE MANURE GET AWAY 

; the same time the well water is contaminated from the manure yard a 

cesspool 



At the same time the well water is contaminated from the manure yard and 

cesspool 

A good many years ago Voelcker, in England, showed 
with proofs beyond doubt that farm manure was used 
in a very careless and wasteful manner. He showed, for 
instance, that when manure was thrown into an open 
barnyard — just as the great majority of our American 



HANDLING MANURE ON TIIR FARM 



217 



farmers handle it — and there allowed to He for a few 
months, it invariably lost from one-half to two-thirds of 
its total fertilizing^ value, besides injuring its physical 
nature so much that it did little good when ap])lied to the 
soil. This means that two or three loads of poorly kept 
stable manure are of no more value when sent to the soil 
than a single load properly preserved and apj^licd. 

Manure properly preserved increases crops. — An ex- 
ample of poorly preserved and well preserved manure is 
shown in the field tests of the Ohio Station, which have 
now been in progress for ten years : two kinds of manure 
were used, yard manure and fresh manure. In both cases 
the rate of application was eight tons per acre on clover 
sod, plowed under for corn, and then followed in a three- 
year rotation of wheat and clover without any further 
manuring or fertilizing. The table following shows the 
average increase for each crop for both kinds of manure : 



Kind of Manure 


Bushels of 
Corn 


Bushels of 
Wheat 


Pounds of 
Hay 


Yard manure 

Fresh manure 


16.03 
22.24 


8.21 
q-73 


698 
1280 







This is what Director Thorne in discussing these tests 
says : "Not only has the manure been greatly reduced in 
(|uantity, but the quality likewise has been impaired by 
exposure — the rain leaching out the most soluble, and, 
therefore, the most valuable portions. At current prices 
the average increase from a ton of open-yard manure, 
including the straw and stover, has been worth about two 
dollars, while that from the fresh manure has reached an 
average value of nearly three dollars ; and this value has 
been increased to four dollars and fifty cents by reinforc- 
ing the manure with acid phosphate." 



2l8 



SOILS 



Methods of applying manure to fields. — Four methods 
are in use as follows : 

1. Piling in small heaps, which are to be spread later 
in the season. 

2. Hauling to fields and piling in large mounds, to be 
distributed later. 

3. Scattering on fields by hand direct from place where 
made. 

4. Distributing by means of manure spreader. 




A COMMON WAY BUT POOR PRACTICE 

Piling manure in small heaps, while still common, is fast giving way to the 
manure spreader 



Small piles of manure : a bad practice. — For a long time 
the most common way of applying manure has been this: 
Wagons are loaded with manure, hauled to the field; here 
the manure is dumped into small piles, eight, ten or twelve 
per load. Later in the season, either in the fall, winter 



HANDLING MANURE ON THE FARM 219 

or early spring-, these small piles are scattered and the 
land plowed. Of all bad methods, this is the most waste- 
ful. It is bad practice: the manure loses its elements, 
which leach out and sink into the soil ; one spot is made 
rich, the rest of the land receiving an insignificant por- 
tion only ; on the rich spot the crop — grass, oats or wheat 
— often lodges and gives no better results than the less 
favored portions ; or the manure heap may heat and 
ferment, losing a goodly portion of its nitrogen, the ele- 
ment most in demand. 

The large mound: now but little practiced. — The piling 
in large heaps or mounds — thirty to fifty loads to each — 
is not to be commended unless it can be moistened freely, 
that fermentation may be prevented. It doubles the 
handling and materially increases the cost of application. 
It should be said that this method is a relic of the old days 
and now seldom is practiced. 

The most common form of application is hand scatter- 
ing with manure hauled direct from the yard to the field. 
Hand scattering is objectionable. — The objection to 
hand scattering lies in the unevenness of distribution. 
Even w'ith the best care more or less manure falls in 
bunches, leaving a great number of vacant spaces to get 
no manure at all. The result is this : On some portions 
of the soil too much manure goes, and on others too little 
or none — making a double waste. Here is the opinion of 
Professor Smith: "Experiments to-day are wanting to 
exhibit the losses accruing from throwing the manure at 
the land in chunks. If manure is hauled out in the dead 
of winter and scattered from a sleigh box, it is sure to be 
left in large forkfuls, scattered unevenly. It is impossible 
to get manure so applied properly worked into the ground 
to insure the mixing of the decaying organic matter with 
the soil. Remember that if the decaying manure is not 



220 SOILS 



mixed with the earth, where its content of plant food will 
be absorbed, it cannot exert its beneficial effect on the 
physical character of the soil. A man of experience is 
tempted to say that one load of manure spread with per- 
fect evenness is about as valuable as two loads on the 
same area spread in chunks and heaps. This phase of the 
question cannot be easily exaggerated. Until the manure 
becomes an unrecognizable constituent of the soil itself, 
it has not accomplished its mission. It must be digested 
in the soil, assimilated into the soil system; and this is 




HAl'LING MANURE TO THE FIELD 
To be most effective manure should be drawn direct from the stable to the field 

possible alone when it is evenly and uniformly spread." 

This waste is avoided when the manure spreader is 
used. 

The manure spreader: it pays good interest. — In the 
first place, the manure spreader does its work well. It 
spreads thinly, uniformly, and evenly — items of much 
consequence in handling manure. If the growing crop 
is to receive this farm resource so as to make the best 
use of it, it should be furnished to the soil in the most 
wholesome and in the best usable form ; it must be given 
the soil in a way that allows rapid decomposition and 
complete, even incorporation into the soil. 



HANDLING MANURR ON TlIF, FARM 



221 



In the second place, the spreader is a labor-saving 
device. The four-tine fork method of spreading is ex- 
pensive and out of date. It costs too much to handle 
manure in this old way ; it does the work too unsatisfac- 
torily ; it calls for too much labor; it fails in having the 
manure taken to the field properly, thus securing to the 
soil the full value of the manure, both chemically and 
physically. The labor required in spreading a load of 




When the spreader is used manure is applied thinly, evenly and uniformly. 
Then, too, the cost of application is reduced 

manure by the spreader is less than one-half that required 
by either of the old methods — by spreading broadcast by 
hand or by piling in small heaps in the field. 

In the third place, the manure spreader pays. I know 
this suggestion means another costly machine for the 
farm. The question now arises : Is the manure spreader 
worth its cost? It most certainly is. In my judgment 
there is no machine now used on the farm that pays a 
better interest on the investment. For simply putting the 



222 SOILS 

manure on the land in the best form a high rate of inter- 
est is paid on the original cost; for decreasing the ex- 
pense of application a high rate of interest is paid on the 
investment ; for having at hand at all times a vehicle for 
handling manure as it accumulates a high rate of inter- 
est is paid on the investment ; for doing all these things — 
for helping the farmer with his work, for removing the 
drudgery and disagreeableness of handling stable manure 
— the manure spreader is needed, and its initial expense 
is met several times each season. 

When to apply manure. — Manure should be applied as 
fast as it is made, unless some good provision can be had 
for its protection and preservation against loss by fer- 
mentation or by leaching. The covered barnyard and the 
manure pit have come into use and popularity with recent 
years, doing much in the way of saving manure against 
loss. These provisions are good only for certain seasons 
of the year; when it is impracticable to get out on the 
fields with the spreader so as to make direct application 
of the manure to the land. 

Broadly speaking, the sooner the manure can be got 
into the soil the better, for these reasons : the organic 
matter is still intact and the plant food is preserved. The 
rotting of manure means a waste of organic matter. 
Such rotting should be allowed to take place within the 
soil. As the manure rots, so will the soil rot ; so will the 
compounds containing plant food rot and thereby furnish 
available plant food. 

We want a lot of organic matter in the soil, for the 
reason that organic matter is the basis of humus supply; 
and hence it regulates the water content of the soil and 
the activity of bacteria, whose work is so intimately con- 
nected with the growth of crops. 

That manure materially decreases in bulk and in plant- 



HANDLING MANURE ON THE FARM 223 

food value is shown in an experiment recorded by Pro- 
fessor Roberts. Starting with 4,000 pounds of manure, 
the amount decreased to 1,730 pounds; because of poor 
preservation, sixty per cent, of the nitrogen escaped into 
the air, seventy-five per cent, of the potassium and forty 
per cent, of the phosphorus leached away in rain water — 
in all a loss so great that no farm can stand it even for a 
short time. 

When this pile of manure is considered from the stand- 
point of its money value, we find that at the beginning it 
was worth $5.48; but after being exposed for five months, 
the plant-food value was only $2.03 — scarcely one-third its 
original value. Surely no farmer can afiford to follow any 
method so wasteful as this. What method do you follow? 
Just bear this in mind: If you haul manure to the field 
and spread thinly over the soil as fast as it is made, say 
each day or once a week, you will not only save all the 
plant food it contains, but you will give the soil all the 
benefit of the action of fermentation on the soil. 

When we consider that at least half of the entire amount 
of manure made on our farms is as carelessly handled, we 
can realize in short order the enormous loss that annually 
takes place ; a loss in real value as large as the entire crop 
of American wheat or cotton is worth. Just take this 
direction and you will find an explanation for the deple- 
tion of so many lands ; you will find the real cause of so 
much poor farming and of lessened yields ; you will find, 
in a large measure, the true meaning of abandoned farms ; 
you will find the gist of all the troubles that infect the 
soil, the farm, and the farmer. 

These evil results may be eliminated — at least reduced 
to a minimum — if the manure be applied direct to the 
fields. 

Where to apply manure. — You ought not apply manure 



224 



SOILS 



on lands containing a large amount of nitrates. There 
is too great danger that these will be broken up by 
the decay of the manure ; hence, manure should go to the 
fields where the supply of nitrates is at their lowest point : 
during the fall, just after crops have fructified; during 
winter, when nitrification is slow or inactive ; in the 
spring, when the supply of nitrates is still low. It is 
unwise, perhaps, in the summer, when the nitrate supply 
is unused and still large, to apply manure to cultivated 




CRIMSON CLOVER IN THE SOUTH 

Humus is added to the land and nitrogen is secured for crops. Crimson clover 
is a splendid crop for the greater part of the South 



lands ; the risk is too much, for these nitrates are likely 
to be lost. There is no objection, however, in sending 
manure at all times, and especially during the winter and 
spring months, to grass or pasture or mowing fields. A 
clover sod that is to be planted to corn in the spring is 
an ideal place for a thin, even, and uniform covering of 
manure. 

How much manure to apply. — As a general rule, it is 
more scientific to apply small amounts of manure fre- 
quently than to supply large amounts at longer intervals. 



HANDLING MANURF. ON Till-: FARM 225 

This is the best fixed rule that I am able to give. This 
point has been tested at several stations. In New Hamp- 
shire four tons per acre applied each year for three years 
furnished an increase of thirty-one per cent, more of corn 
than a single application of nine tons per acre at one time. 
Commenting on an experiment of a similar nature at the 
Ohio Station, Director Thorne says : "We have compared 
the value of manure applied at the rate of four and eight 
tons per acre. The result has been that the increase per 
ton of manure has been more than twenty-five per cent, 
greater when used at the smaller rate, although the in- 
crease per acre has been larger when used at the larger 
rate ; hence, when manure is scarce, it is better to apply 
it in smaller quantities so as to cover all the land in crop, 
rather than to spread it over part of the land only and 
leave part unmanured.'' 

The accumulative effect of farm manure, — By the use 
of barnyard manure a farmer can easily and quickly im- 
prove the soil of his farm and at the same time secure 
permanent results. Deficiencies are supplied — both plant 
food and bacterial activity — even with a single application. 

The lasting effect of barnyard manure is expressed very 
clearly by Professor Snyder as follows : "When a dressing 
of eight tons of manure is applied, which is not a heavy 
dressing, an increase of twenty bushels of corn is secured 
the first year. We have secured this much and more in 
our experiments. It is not dilBcult to assign a value to the 
corn. In addition to the increase of twenty bushels of 
corn, more corn stover is secured, which can be used for 
feed and thus turned into manure and made to add to the 
fertility of the soil. It is safe to say that the increase in 
the corn crop alone is $6. The value of the manure 
does not stop here. If following the corn the second 
year after the application of manure wheat be sown, 



226 SOILS 

an increase of at least three bushels of wheat may- 
be secured. This is all due to the residual action of the 
manure and the better cultivation of the land. The aver- 
age value of this wheat would be about $4.50. 

"The additional straw from the larger crop of wheat is 
converted into manure and returned to the soil. Suppose 
that clover be sown with the wheat. The manure that the 
land has received would insure a better stand of clover, 
and, in fact, it might be the deciding factor as to whether 
any clover at all would be obtained. It has been shown 
by experiments that one ton more of clover per acre 
may be secured on manured land than on that left unma- 
nured. Not only can a ton more of clover be obtained, 
but there will be more and better pasture. It is hard to 
assign a value to this crop because of both its feeding 
and manurial value, but it will be worth at least $5.25. 
After growing clover, the land will increase in crop-pro- 
ducing value. If the clover is followed by wheat, there 
should be an increase of nine bushels over land receiving 
no manure, making crop-producing value of the farm 
manure and clover equal to $5.25 for the fourth year. If 
the wheat is followed by oats, a further increase should 
be secured. The oats are worth $3. During the five 
years the increase in the value of the crops where farm 
manure was used, clover grown, and better cultivation 
given to the land should be $24. This makes the value 
of the manure $3 per ton distributed over a period of 
five years." 

Why should we longer deny our old lands the beneficial 
influences of stable manure? Why should we longer 
neglect it and abuse it? Why should we longer offer it 
the least consideration of all products of the farm? 



CHAPTER XXIV 

BUYING PLANT FOOD FOR THE SOIL 

The three fertilizer constituents are nitrogen, phospho- 
rus, and potassium, for the reason that in lands long 
cultivated they have been diminished more nearly in the 
soil. While there is just now a great deal of controversy 
as to the real office of a fertilizer, still, there is no question 




cow PEAS AND FERTILIZERS AND A POOR SOIL 

I. Phosphorus and potassium, but no nitrogen 
z. Nitrogfen. but no phosphorus and potassium 
3. No fertilizers of any kind applied 

about their value on many lands. It may be that a fer- 
tilizer has some other ofhce besides that of supplying plant 
food , nevertheless, plant food is a factor in soil fertility. 
The office of nitrogen. — We have learned that many 
elements are essential to the perfect development of the 
plant and that each has a special work to do, which work 
cannot in any case be done by any other element. Nitro- 



228 SOILS 

gen, for example, has its most important function in 
developing stalks and leaves and stems rather than fruit 
or seed. You observe readily this fact : Where large 
applications of stable manure have been made, note the 
heavy, rich growth ; and frequently you will find the yield 
is decreased because of the abnormal growth of stalk and 
stems due to an abundance of nitrogen in the soil. 

You get the same results when you plant a corn or 
wheat or cotton crop after peas or clover or alfalfa or any 
other legume that has added nitrogen to the soil. A prac- 
tical observation is here : when you observe large devel- 




A CASE WHERE ALL THREE ELEMENTS ARE NEEDED 

opment of stalk and leaf at the expense of fruit, you may 
know that nitrogen is not needed in the fertilizer ; but 
phosphorus and potassium, perhaps, ought to be supplied 
that the plants may produce seed and fruit in proportion 
to stalk and leaf. 

The offices of phosphorus and potassium. — This sug- 
gests the main office of phosphorus and of potassium. 
Both are opposite to that of nitrogen ; and both are 
directed toward increasing the grain or fruit of the plant. 
When a large amount of some phosphorus-carrying fer- 
tilizing material is applied to the soil, the growth of the 
plants is not more pronounced, but the yield is increased, 
and, at the same time, the crop matures earlier. On the 



BUYING PLANT FOOD FOR THE SOIL 229 

Other hand, potassium has a tendency to prolong the 
growth of crops, l)Ut its chief office is increasing the 
yield or cjuantity of fruit. Consequently, when the yield 
is small, you may conclude there is a deficiency of either 
phosphorus or potassium — or both — in the soil. 

And again : if you observe that your plants are of rich, 
green color and of good size, you may be sure they are 
not in need of nitrogen. If, however, they are small and 
pale and sickly in appearance, you may know that nitro- 
gen is sorely in need. 

Nitrogen is the most costly element of plant food we 
buy, and for this reason we should depend upon home- 
made manures and the various legumes for every bit of 
nitrogen that is needed on the farm. Of course, we can- 
not get our phosphorus and potassium in that way. These 
come from the soil and not from the air; hence, a de- 
ficiency in either must come through some artificial 
means. 

Sources of nitrogen. — While nitrogen is one of the most 
abundant of substances, just the same, it is one of the 
easiest lost and used up in the soil. In buying nitrogen 
as a fertilizer, you must seek a material already having 
it in combination. In combination with the element 
hydrogen (which is a constituent of water) ammonia is 
formed, and a gas it is. also; and it is very soluble in 
water. The pungent odor of ammonia water is due to 
ammonia gas. Thus we get the same odor in stables and 
fresh manure piles: ammonia gas is passing ofif into the 
air, later to be brought down by dew or rain, fertilizing, 
perhaps, some distant field. 

Ammonia has a great fondness for sulphuric acid, and 
unites with it with vigor, giving rise to a substance white 
and solid, and known to fertilizer dealers and users as 
sulphate of ammonia. 



230 SOILS 

The commercial sulphate of ammonia contains about 
twenty per cent, of nitrogen, or four hundred pounds of 
nitrogen to the ton. In this material the ammonia is held 
and is prevented from escaping by the sulphuric acid. 
Sulphate of ammonia is easily soluble in water, and dis- 
tributes itself through the soil where plant roots can get 
at it. It adds to the nitrogen stores where come plant 
roots for the nitrogen necessary to their growth. 

On account of the ease with which water dissolves it, 
sulphate of ammonia is one of our most valuable and 



NITROGEN 

NITRATE o/SODA I 

SULPHATEgfAMMONlAI 
DRIED BLOOD 
TANKAGE 

coTton'seTd meal ^^ SCALE 100 lbs, = 1 IN, 

PHOSPHOROUS 

acid phosphate 
ground bone 
dissolved bone 

POTASSIUM 

KAINIT 

MURIATE of POT ASH 

SULPHATEofPOTASH 

ASHES 




OUR COMMON FERTILIZING MATERIALS 

quickly acting sources of nitrogen for plants, but, at the 
same time, it is one of the most costly sources. It is not 
readily washed out of soils. 

The chief source of supply is at the gas factory, where 
it becomes a waste product in the manufacture of gas 
from soft coal, and in the production of coke from coal. 

Nitrate of soda or chili saltpeter is a white solid ma- 
terial that is mined in the rainless districts of South 
America. As found there, it is mixed with other sub- 
stances, but when purified, it is put on the market as 
commercial nitrate of soda to be used as a chemical 



I5UVING PLANT FOOD FOR TIIF SOIL 2T,l 

manure for lands. When prepared for commercial use, 
it contains jiftcen and one-half to sixteen per cent, of 
nitrogen, or 320 jwunds to the ton. The remaining' 1,680 
pounds of the ton are the elements sodium and oxygen, 
to which the nitrogen is united, and these form the nitrate 
of soda. In addition to these, forty to sixty pounds of 
impurities — mostly common salt — are present in each 
ton of the commercial product. 

Nitrate of soda dissolves in water with great ease, and 
readily distributes itself in the soil. It is in this form 
that plants like most to use nitrogen, and it is in this 
form they take it up in greatest abundance : in no other 
does nitrogen act more quickly or show its efifect more 
quickly when applied to the soil. So in two or three days 
after an application of the fertilizer is made, its efifect is 
seen on growing plants. They show an increase in vigor, 
a deeper green color is seen, and greater activity in 
growth is apparent at once. 

In this connection it might be worth your while to 
recall to mind this fact: nitrogen, in nearly every case, 
enters plants as a nitrate. Sulphate of ammonia, for in- 
stance, when used as a fertilizer, sometimes is acted upon 
by micro-organisms which change the ammonia form to 
the nitrate form. Of course, there is an objection when 
any large quantity of nitrates are present in the soil : it is 
soluble, and soil water and drainage waters gather it up 
and carry it away — out of reach of plants, out into the 
sea, perhaps. A great quantity of nitrogen is lost in this 
way each year. 

Dried blood contains from eight to twelve per cent, 
of nitrogen and from seven to fourteen per cent, of phos- 
phoric acid, and is the richest substance coming from ani- 
mal products. 

When live stock is slaughtered, the blood is collected in 



232 SOILS 

tanks and boiled that the albuminoids may be coagulated. 
The water of this material is then removed ; the resulting 
materials are pressed into cake, and later broken, and 
dried, and ground — all operations essential in making the 
commercial product. 

Tankage. — This is a by-product of the slaughter-house 
and contains from four to eight per cent, of nitrogen and 
from seven to fourteen per cent, of phosphoric acid. It 
slowly decomposes in the soil, and is generally appre- 
ciated as a chemical fertilizer. Included in this product 
are intestines, lungs, tendons, bones, blood, and other 
refuse. After being cooked in tanks and pressed, it is 
dried and ground, and then is sent out as a fertilizer or 
as a feeding stuff for pigs. 

Dried and ground fish — or dried fish scrap, as it is 
often called — is a by-product of the fish-oil and canning 
factories. Both nitrogen and phosphorus are contained in 
this product: from six to eight per cent, of the former, 
and from seven to nine per cent, of the latter. This by- 
product is consumed largely by those near the sources of 
supply. 

Cotton-seed meal. — Usually about seven per cent, of 
nitrogen, or one hundred and forty pounds to the ton, are 
found in this fertilizing material. It is by far the most 
important of the vegetable products used as commercial 
fertilizers. It decays somewhat rapidly, yet lasts long 
enough so that the growing crop may use it. It is more 
promptly available than tankage, but much less quickly 
available than either nitrate of soda or sulphate of am- 
monia. 

Cotton-seed meal is a by-product of the cotton-oil mill. 
In removing the oil from cotton seed, the seed are cut into 
bits and cooked and pressed into cakes. These cakes are 
then ground into fine meal, which may be used either as 



BUYING PLANT FOOD FOR THE SOIL 



233 



a feeding;' stuff or as a fertilizer. Tlie amount of cotton- 
seed meal used for fertilizin<^" purposes is very large in the 
South. It is not economy, however ; for a vegetable prod- 
uct so rich in protein as cotton-seed meal to be buried in 
the ground is poor economy and a waste of wealth. Cot- 
ton-seed meal ought first to be fed to live stock and the 
resulting manure returned to the land. When properly 
utilized in this way, both humus and available plant food 
will be secured, or a reverse profit ; a profit from the 
meal as food, and a profit from it as a fertilizer. 

Sources of phosphorus. — Phosphorus cannot be used 
as a fertilizer in a free state, for the reason it readily 





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WHERE ACID PHOSPHATE PAYS 
Every man who uses chemical manures ought to test his land 



takes fire. Consequently, when used for commercial pur- 
poses it always is found in combination with lime, iron, or 
some similar substance present in the soil. 

A combination of this sort gives rise to what is known 
as phosphate. Phosphate of lime, for instance, constitutes 
the main portion of bone and the various phosphate rocks 
mined in North and South ; Carolina, in Tennessee, in 



234 - SOILS 

Georgia, and in Florida. As taken from these mines, this 
rock contain'^ from twenty-six to thirty-five per cent, of 
phosphoric acid, the remaining portion of the rock being 
such impurities as sand, clay, limestone, and water. In 
its raw or natural state, phosphate has three parts of lime 
united with the phosphoric acid. The chemists call this 
tri-calcium phosphate. It is very insoluble in water, and 
plants cannot use it. To make it soluble in water and fit 
it for plant food, the rock is finely ground and treated with 
sulphuric acid, which acts upon it in such a way as to take 
from the three-lime phosphate two parts of its lime, thus 
leaving only one part of lime united to the phosphoric 
acid. This one-lime phosphate is what is known as water- 
soluble phosphoric acid. 

On long standing, this water-soluble phosphoric acid 
has a tendency to take lime from every substance in con- 
tact with it, and in so doing becomes less soluble. This 
gives rise to the term "reverted" or "gone-back" phos- 
phoric acid. 

In this product there is supposed to be two parts of 
lime in combination with the phosphoric acid and is thus 
an intermediate product between soluble and the original 
rock. Of course, in treating with sulphuric acid, some 
of the ground rock is not acted on by sulphuric acid, and, 
hence, is left in its original insoluble condition. In this 
we get insoluble phosphoric acid, as our fertilizer bags 
often indicate. Available phosphoric acid is made of the 
water — soluble and reverted ; it is the sum of these two ; 
and the available and insoluble make the total phosphoric 
acid — it includes all the phosphoric acid present. 

When you buy fertilizers again, just bear these facts 
in mind. 

I believe you will be more interested hereafter in get- 
ting available phosphoric acid than total phosphoric acid, 



BUYING PLANT FOOD FOR THE SOIL 235 

if immediate results are desired. If a soil contains plenty 
of humus, however, it often may be more economical to 
apply the cheaper, untreated rock. This is especially true 
if it be applied with decaying organic matter as manure 
or sod. High-grade acid phosphate is preferal)le to the 
low-grade since there is more soluble phosphoric acid in 
the former and less in the latter. 

In making acid phosphate, ground rock and sulphuric 
acid are mixed in about equal weights, and as a result 
the acid phosphate produced has only about one-half as 
much phosphoric acid per ton as the rock from which it 
was made. Consequently, we find that acid phosphate 
contains from ten to nineteen per cent, of phosphoric acid. 

Bone fertilizers. — Bone was early used as a fertilizer, 
and is still popular to-day. The many names for bone — 
raw bone, ground bone, fine ground bone, bone dust, bone 
meal, and dissolved bone — indicate the mechanical treat- 
ment and physical condition of the fertilizer. 

Ground bone contains from two to four per cent, of 
nitrogen and twenty to thirty per cent, of phosphoric 
acid ; steamed bone from one to two per cent, of nitrogen 
and from twenty-five to thirty per cent, of phosphoric 
acid ; and dissolved bone from two to three per cent, of 
nitrogen and from twelve to fourteen per cent, of avail- 
able phosphoric acid. Bone meal is not a quick-acting 
fertilizer, hence, this material is not desirable when a 
quickly acting material is wanted ; but for lawns, perma- 
nent grass lands, and long-growing crops, bone meal is 
very desirable for both nitrogen and phosphoric acid. 

Treated rock and treated bone are the chief sources 
of phosphorus for plant food. There are large quantities 
of each of these materials, and so the cost of phosphorus is 
moderate in price, and it ought to be used whenever the 
demands of the soil require it. 



236 



SOILS 



Sources of potassium. — In the olden days our fathers 
depended upon wood ashes for soap-making purposes, 
and learned early of their value as a help for old and 
worn-out lands. Their value may have been due to the 




A MUCK SOIL THAT PROFITABLY USES POTASSIUM 

A celery and lettuce crop when 500 pounds of sulphate of potash are used 

per acre 



lime present in the ashes (lime, you know, corrects acid- 
ity and improves physical condition), or it may have been 
due to the potassium contained in the ashes, and which 
served as a plant food. 

Wood ashes are valuable, therefore, both for the potash 
and lime they contain. In unleached ashes, potassium 
runs from two to eight per cent. — the hard wood supply- 
ing the greatest quantity and the soft wood the least. 
Potassium in ashes is readily soluble in water, hence, ex- 



BUYING PLANT KOOl) FOR TIIK SOd. 237 

posure to rain results in the removal of the potassium, so 
that when ashes are subject to this sort of treatment they 
lose their fertilizing value. 

The chief source of potash materials, however, is the 
Strassfurt mines in Germany, where they occur in great 
abundance and variety. 

Kainit. — This substance is largely used in the South as 
a potassium carrier for cotton. It contains twelve and 
one-half per cent, of potassium, or two hundred and fifty 
pounds to the ton. It is a crude product of the Strass- 
furt mines, the impurities present being common salt and 
magnesium chlorid. 

Muriate of potash. — It is a purified product of the 
potash mines, and is one of the richest materials supply- 
ing potassium. It contains about fifty per cent, of potas- 
sium, or one thousand pounds to the ton. 

Sulphate of potash. — This material contains from 
forty-eight to fifty per cent, of potassium, an average of 
one thousand pounds to the ton, which is in the form of 
sulphate, and it possesses several advantages for such 
crops as tobacco and Irish potatoes. 

The sulphate of potash is more expensive than is either 
muriate of potash or kainit, but is less extensively used, 
although its use is on the increase. 



CHAPTER XXV 

USING CHEMICAL MANURES INTELLIGENTLY 

The use of chemical manures has greatly increased 
within the last twenty-five years. This has been due to 
the fact that large areas of land have become exhausted 
in productive power, and, without the intelligent aid they 
ought to receive, they are unable to gather strength 
enough to produce crops with profit unless they are sup- 
plied with artificial fertilizers. 

Here are reasons that this is so: little thought in main- 
taining fertility has been given ; small quantities of home- 
made manures have been made and preserved; raw ma 



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PHOSPHOROUS 

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DEMANDS ON THE SOIL BV FOUR LEADING FIELD CROPS 
(average yields) 

terials, like corn and cotton seed, have been sold from the 
farm, instead of being fed there ; poor tillage has been 
rendered ; leguminous crops have been grown in a 
limited way only ; systems of farming have been ill 
planned ; and crop rotation has been ignored and neg- 
lected. Just at these points you will find the reasons why 
the business of making and selling and buying chemical 



USING CHEMICAL MANURES INTELLIGENTLY 239 

fertilizers has reached the enormous proportions it now 
possesses. 

The cost of chemical manures represents a tremendous 
draft on the profits of the farm ; a draft that is paid often 
with difficulty. With the coming of each seed time, there 
comes also the ever-recurring fertilizer problem. And it 
is not solved, and so long as we continue as we are, it 
never will be solved. What once was a choice is now a 
necessity; because of the constant dosings, humus has 
been used up in a soil and many crops in many parts of 
the country are grown with profit only when the fertilizer 
drill injects concentrated plant foods into the soil, and in 
constantly increasing doses. 

W'ith good tillage, a wise, well-planned change, a lavish 
use of legumes, humus and stable manure, the situation 
will be relieved and chemical manures will be largely un- 
necessary. If we would remember that fertilizers pay 
him best who best prepares his land, we would at once 
make a long step in the correct use of fertilizers, for 
chemical manures, used most wisely and most economic- 
ally, go always with high culture and improve soils. 

But we ought not blame fertilizers : only our lack of 
knowledge in using them. We ought not use them as 
first necessities but rather as supplementary amend- 
ments — and they are these-;-to help in the work of crop 
production. 

Factory-mixed fertilizers: most in use. — The mixed 
fertilizers constitute the great bulk of trade in commer- 
cial fertilizers. As a rule, these are complete fertilizers : 
they contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium — the 
three elements most likely to be deficient in soils. Of 
course, the soil may require but one of these elements ; 
but what cares the fertilizer dealer if he can sell you the 
other two also? That is his business. And it is your 



240 SOILS 

business to buy only such an element or elements as you 
need. The real fault is yours : you are slow in ascer- 
taining just what you need. 

The elements are now sold in nearly every sort of pro- 
portion, and they are supplied in materials of many kinds 
and names. And it is with regret that one is forced to say 
that fertilizers are not compounded in accordance with 
any principle of scientific importance. There seems to be 
no rational explanation, either, of the proportions as now 
used in the preparation of goods by the average manu- 
facturing concern. I doubt if there has been any phase 
of American agriculture that has come into practice more 
irrationally than that dealing with the compounding and 
use of chemical manures. 

When a farmer wishes to fertilize his land, he usually 
buys some fertilizer without any knowledge of its efifect, 
without any knowledge that his soil will profit by it, 
without any knowledge as to whether the yield will be 
increased. He uses fertilizers solely on the theory that 
they may pay. He guesses about the matter and then 
hopes it will be all right. But this is not good business ; 
and it is not good farming. Any other kind of business 
would be wrecked in a very short time by such 
methods. 

We must get out of the way of adopting fertilizers 
simply because they have high-sounding names. Just re- 
member that a fertilizer is valuable only in proportion to 
the amount of plant food it contains. You should be 
guided in buying factory-mixed goods by the guaranteed 
analysis, and not by any particular name or brand. Nor 
is the special brand any better. There is no merit in a 
special crop fertilizer for any and every kind of soil. It 
is absurd to believe it to be so. The name is worth 
nothing. 



USING CHEMICAL MANURES INTELLIGENTLY 



241 



Computing the value. — In a commercial way, nitroj^en 
is about three times as costly as phosphorus or potassium. 
The cost of tlie fertih/inij- (.lenient \aries from year to 



\ai"r5^'=='='^===5=>^ 



NITRATE 
OF SODA 




ri.AiMT I-OOU IN A BAG OF FERTILIZER 

When biiyinu; fertilizers do not make the mistake of supposing all of it is plant 
food. As indicated above, just a small part is of any value to plants. The 
greater part is dirt or material of no use to plants 



year, but, as a rule, nitrogen is worth fifteen cents per 
pound and phosphorus and potassium each five cents per 
pound. In computing- relative values, bear in mind that 
one per cent, means one pound in a hundred or twenty 
pounds in a ton. 

It is also a good plan in computing the value of a fer- 
tilizer to use the lowest figure representing the percent- 
age, since that more nearly represents the true value. 
Sliding figures are used more to deceive the purchaser 
than to help him or to give him a larger quantity at the 
cost of a smaller amount. 

In order to show the process of computing the value of 
a fertilizer, let us take a problem for the purpose of find- 
ing the plant-food value of a ton of fertilizer. Here is the 
problem : 

What is the money value of the plant food in a fertilizer 
containing 1.95 per cent, of ammonia, 7 to 8 per cent, of 



242 SOILS 

phosphoric acid, and from 2 to 2.75 per cent, of potash — 
the commercial vakie being $30 per ton? 

Process : First, reduce the ammonia to nitrogen, since 
it is the real element of plant food. Ammonia sounds 
larger and hence is used in the fertilizer formulae. Re- 
member that ammonia is not nitrogen. It is only four- 
teen-seventeenths nitrogen, the other three-seventeenths 
being hydrogen, which has no value whatever as a fer- 
tilizer. 

So, to get the real amount of nitrogen in the ammonia 
we shall have to divide the ammonia percentage by 1.2 14, 
so as to get the percentage of nitrogen. 

Just do it this way: 1.95 4- 1.214= i.6o: the nitrogen 
percentage. We will then multiply each of the several 
percentages (use only the smallest figures) by 20, so as 
to obtain the number of pounds in a ton, and then multi- 
ply this product by the value per pound, and we have the 
value on the basis of a ton. 

The following shows the process : 

Nitrogen 1.60X20 = 32 lbs. at 15 cents = $4.80 
Phosphorus 7X20=140 lbs. at 5 cents = 7.00 
Potassium 2X20 = 40 lbs. at 5.4 cents = 2.16 



Value of plant food in a ton $13.96 

So here is all there is to this estimate. When several 
fertilizers are available, just make the calculation in this 
way and you can then determine in which fertilizer you 
get the largest quantity of plant food for the least money. 
For the purpose of comparison, we will take another 
fertilizer that sells for $29 per ton, just one dollar less: 
its analysis is : nitrogen, 2 per cent., phosphoric acid, 
9 per cent., potash, 2 per cent. 

With a first glance the average farmer might think the 
first fertilizer, since it sells for a dollar a ton more, is 



USING CIIKMICAL MANURES INTELLIGENTLY 



243 



therefore a l^ettcr fertilizer, but let us see, calculating as 
we did before : 

Nitrogen 2X20 = 40 lbs. at 15 cents = $6.00 
Phosphorus 9X20^:180 lbs. at 5 cents = 9.00 
Potassium 2X20 = 40 lbs. at 5.4 cents = 2.16 



\'alue of plant food in a ton 



$17.16 




Now you have your comparison : If you take the first 
fertilizer, you get in each ton $13.96 worth of plant food, 
which costs you $30; if, 
on the other hand, you 
purchase the second, you 
get $17.16 worth of plant 
food for $29. The differ- 
ence between the value of 
the plant food and the sell- 
ing price is due to the cost 
of manufacture, profits, 
agents' commission, etc. 
In the case of the first this 
difference is $16.04, while 
in the second it is but 
$11.84; a clear saving of 
$4.20 on each ton, and the 
latter is equal to the for- 
mer in every sense of the 
word. 

Analysis on bags and '^'s ^^. potassium 7152%.^ 

sacks. — In purchasing a the bag and the plant food in it 
fertilizer make it a point to 

interpret as correctly as 3^ou can the statements and 
figures that go with the fertilizer, for unless you do this 
you may be deceived. Just bear in mind all the time that 



MOISTURE I0tol5% ijl 

AMMONIA 2toZ25?o'i 

AVAILABLE PHOS, ACID 8to9% iH 

EQUIVALENT TO BONE PHOSPHATE 

OF LIME 20.74toZ4,0l% 

INSOLUBLE PHOS.ACID l.25to2.% 

TOTAL PHOS, ACID 9,25 to 11% 

POTASH.. ....I.62to2,l67o 

EQUIVALENT TO SULPHATEJI,80tol3,725l 



THE REAL MEANING 



L ME 



PHOSPHOROUS Z.%. 



NITROGEN 1,64% 




244 SOILS 

it is available nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that 
you are after, and not high-sounding names or spread-on 
analyses. 

The following is an example of such : 

Moisture lO to 15.00 

Ammonia 2 to 2.25 

Available phosphoric acid 8 to 9.00 

Equivalent to bone phosphate of lime 20.74 to 24.01 

Insoluble phosphoric acid 1.25 to 2.00 

Total phosphoric acid 9.25 to 11 00 

Potash 1 . 62 to 2 . 16 

Equivalent to sulphate 1 1 . 80 to 13 . 72 

When this statement is reduced to its true meaning, it 
reads as follows : 

Nitrogen 1.64 

Phosphoric acid 8.00 

Potash 1 .62 

And now another important truth in the purchase of 
fertilizers : Pay no attention to anything printed on the 
bag or tag, except to the nitrogen, to the available or solu- 
ble phosphoric acid, and to the potash, and then use only 
the lowest percentage as given for each element. Do this 
and you will have a clear and correct statement of the real 
value. 

Now, if you use fertilizers, just bear this in mind: 
chemical fertilizers will not take the place of humus, 
stable manure, and the legumes. You will use them 
properly only when you consider them as supplementary 
helps in the fertilization of your lands. The quicker you 
realize that prescribed formulae are only general and that 
you must use such as guides rather than as specifics, you 
will the quicker profit in using chemical manures. If you 



USING CHEMICAL MANURES INTELLIGENTLY 245 

think your soil is deficient in some clement of plant food, 
make a test on your own farm in your own field. Ask the 
plant. Just as you must feed and test your own feeding 
stufTs, using real, live animals for the purpose, so you 
must test your own soil and consult with the plants in 
vour own field. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

MIXING FERTILIZERS AT HOME 

flome-mixing- of fertilizers now is a much discussed 
question. So much good sense is in the proposition, so 
closely IS it allied with savings and profits, so reasonable, 
too, is the preliminary cost — no farmer can afiford to 
ignore a careful study of the simple principles upon 
which it is based. 

A few farmers have adopted the plan of purchasing un- 
mixed ingredients and of mixing them at home. They 
have been doing this a long time. They like the plan. 
They find it pays. But 3^ou need to give some study, 
some care, and some knowledge to the work of home- 
mixing, if you would get the best results. 

The fact that all standard fertilizing materials may be 
purchased readily, and mixed together, producing a fer- 
tilizer equal in worth to a similar factory-mixed brand 
that sells for from $5 to $15 a ton more than the home- 
mixed fertilizer, suggests the wisdom of this home-mixing 
plan. 

Poor mixing: the chief disadvantage. — The chief ob- 
jection to home-mixing of fertilizers is poor mixing. 
Knowledge of this fact has led the agent of factory-mixed 
goods to advance strong arguments in favor of his prod- 
uct, as against the farmer doing the work himself. 

I admit that the factory is peculiarly prepared to mix 
fertilizing materials in the best way, but there is no rea- 
son why the farmer should not do the work equally as 
well. I will admit that many farmers do mix their ma- 
terials poorly, but that is not a sound objection to the 




■ ■ ■ I.' If / 

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248 SOILS 

principle. Maybe the same farmers prepare their soils 
with little care ; they may plow poorly. But shall you 
condemn the plowing idea because it is not done in all 
cases, in the best manner, and according to the best in- 
formation and knowledge? 

The objection, then, is only apparent: it is not real. 
The business-like farmer will employ home-mixing be- 
cause it is a saving to him ; because he can make ten to 
twenty-five dollars for each day he gives to this work ; 
and because he can get a better fertilizer. 

Home-mixing means definite knowledge. — When the 
different materials are purchased and mixed at home the 
farmer can know, with more certainty, just what he is 
adding to his soil. When mixed goods are used, it is not 
easy to detect inferior articles. The chances are the 
farmer will get better materials in home-mixed goods 
than in factory-mixed goods. 

By careful observation and experiment the farmer can 
compound his mixture in a way to adapt it more nearly to 
the needs of his crops and soils. Manufacturers claim to 
manufacture goods that are of especial value to some 
special crop, but this is not true, although it ought to be 
true. This is because the manufacturer is unacquainted 
with the needs of the soil, and he knows nothing about 
the system of farming that has been or now is being fol- 
lowed. Consequently, the composition of the crop (and 
the manufacturer largely takes it into account) is not a 
dominant factor for consideration in compounding fertil- 
izers. 

Here is a case : Two farmers on adjoining farms grow 
wheat. It is a money crop with both. Their soils may be 
quite similar in formation ; both farms may be drained 
equally well ; both farmers use the same seed, but one 
feeds many cattle and makes much manure for his land 



MIXING KKRTII.IZIvRS AT HOME 249 

and he is a legume farmer also. The other farmer neither 
feeds stock nor grows any legume. Now, do you think it 
good sense to use the same wheat fertilizer for both farms? 
On one farm there is nitrogen enough, but on the other it 
may be lacking and greatly in demand by every crop 
seeded there. For let us remember that where stable 
manure is made and preserved in a proper way, and where 
legumes are grown as they ought to be, then there is no 
need of nitrogen being applied to the soil, although the 
crop may be exhaustive in character and may come fre- 
quently in rotation. 

On the other hand, phosphorus and potassium may be 
lacking in the soil. Grain crops may have depleted your 
lands of one or both of these elements. The supply may 
never have been large. We have soil types on record 
that show a lack of phosphorus, and we have others that 
show a lack of potassium. A crop of legumes seemingly 
may increase the quantity of cither in the top soil, but 
these elements both have been got from the subsoil ; and 
later, when plowed under, the phosphorus and potassium 
stores may be larger, but the increase has come from the 
subsoil. 

In these cases, there has simply been a transfer from 
the farm beneath to the farm above: there has been no 
real addition of plant food to the soil. Consequently, if 
lands arc deficient in either phosphorus or potassium, the 
deficiency must be made good in some outside way : by 
manures or commercial fertilizer; by using such ma- 
terial or materials that is needed as a reenforcement of the 
present stores. 

Test your lands. — Your first question naturally is : 
What clement, or elements, is lacking in my soil? The 
only way by which a real scientific answ'cr can come is by 
means of an experiment made by you on your own farm, 



250 



SOILS 



and in every field for your leading money-crop or crops. 
It is necessary, then, for you to make a test that you may 
know what is demanded in way of an artificial manure 
for your soil. 

Suppose you try this plan : Lay off six plots — each plot 
to be one rod wide and eight rods long — one-twentieth of 
an acre in area. In the field your experiment would show 
a scheme like this : 





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Apply the fertilizers broadcast and harrow in length- 
wise that no part of them may be dragged over onto an- 
other plot. I find it advisable to mix fertilizers with dry 
dirt when small quantities are used that a more even dis- 
tribution may be secured. 

If such a test is made with corn, be careful to treat all 
plots alike in cultivation, and this cultivation should be 
similar in nature to that given the remainder of the field. 
A careful observation of plots during the growing season, 
coupled with an estimate at harvest, should enable you 
to use fertilizers with some knowledge of their value, if 
such is shown by the test. The results cannot fail to be 
helpful in deciding what kinds of plant food your land 
needs, and in what quantity each element is needed. 

The quantity you shall use, — No hard and fixed rule 
can be given as to the quantity of the fertilizer you shall 



MIXING FERTILIZli:RS AT HOME 



251 



use. That depends upon several things, such as : inher- 
ent richness of the land ; thoroughness of tillage and 
preparation ; nature of the crop (is it a legume or not) ; 
richness of the fertilizer; and nature of climate and 
season. If you are a careful observer, your judgment will 
help you very much in settling this difficulty. 

Just remember that the only way to know the soil well 
is to study it well ; you must watch it and experiment 
with it. And so, in feeding it with artificial manures, you 
must consider all these points if you would know just how 




#:^ 



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NITROGEN PHOSPHOROUS 

PHOSPHOROUS 
POTASSIUM 
6300 lbs, 2500 lbs, 



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NITROGEN 


POTASSIUM 


NOTHING 


6080 lbs. 


3080 lbs, 


2695 lbs, 



THE SOIL TELLS ITS OWN STORY 



much of fertilizers per acre you shall apply. But you had 
better do some testing work. \\ ith corn, for instance, you 
can apply, on two rows, two hundred pounds of the fertil- 
izer per acre ; on the next two rows, four hundred ; on 
the next two rows, six hundred ; on the next two rows, 
eight hundred; and on the next two rows, one thousand 
pounds per acre. Every sort of cultivated crop, including 
corn, cotton, potatoes, and tobacco, may be subjected to 
such treatment, and the soil will reveal the secret it 
holds — if one is there. 

When and how to mix. — I like the winter season best 
for mixing fertilizers : it gives one plenty of time to get 
his materials together; labor is available, and you can 



252 SOILS 

do the work well before the rush and hurry of plowing 
and planting. When you consider the fact that you are 
receiving extremely good wages for mixing fertilizers, 
you ought to give good service to this important piece of 
farm work. You will find a tight-barn floor an excellent 
place for the mixing, and the work will interfere in no 
way with feeding and other barn work. 

Some people prefer a wagon box for this purpose, and 
it is just as good : you have only to take your choice. 

In mixing the different materials, spread them over the 
floor to a depth of five to ten inches, putting the bulkiest 
fertilizer first. On top of this spread layers of the re- 
maining materials ; then mix thoroughly, shoveling the 
entire pile over several times. When a great many tons 
are to be mixed, this operation will need to be repeated 
often, and the materials bagged as mixed. You may find 
some of the unmixed materials hard and lumpy in the 
sacks; if so, just put them in a separate pile and break 
up finely with maul or shovel. You will then have no 
trouble in handling in the way indicated above. 

Some fertilizer problems. — Fertilizing materials may be 
used singly or in combination with others. A great num- 
ber of combinations can be made to suit all sorts of soils 
and every kind of crop, by using a few or many of the 
fertilizing materials. To clearly understand these fertil- 
izing problems, let us take them up one after another. 

Here is the first problem : Suppose a ton of home- 
mixed fertilizer is made of 1,200 pounds of acid phos- 
phate, 400 pounds of cotton-seed meal, and 400 pounds of 
kainit. What will be the cjuantity of nitrogen, phos- 
phorus, and potassium in a ton? 

Process : First, we must know the composition. In 
nearly every State the law requires the correct analysis to 
be printed or stamped on the bag in which the material is 



MIXING Fi:UTI[,IZi:US AT HOME 



253 



shipped. Conse(iucntly, if you know how to interpret 
these fissures, you will have no difficulty in makinj^ your 
calculations. Now we find (you can consult any book of 
reference for the composition if not given on the bag) 
acid phosphate contains fourteen per cent, phosphoric 
acid, cotton-seed meal seven per cent, nitrogen, two and 
one-half per cent, phosphoric acid and one and five-tenths 
per cent potash, and kainit ^fty per cent, potash : hence 
we get — ' ^ ^i-^ 

Acid Phosphate — 

1200X0.14^168 pounds of pliosphoric acid. 
Cotton-Seed Meal — 

400 X 0.07 =: 28 pounds nitrogen. 

400 X 0.025 = 10 pounds phosphoric acid. 

400 X 0.015 ^ 6 pounds potash. 
Kainit — 

400X0.125^50 pounds potash. 

We get now — 



Material 


Fertilizing Element 


Phosphoric 
Acid 


Nitrogen 


Potash 


Acid phosphate 


168. 
10. 
00. 


00. 
28. 
00. 




Cottonseed meal 


6. 


Kainit 


50. 




Totals 


.78. 


28. 


56. 





PROBLEM II: In a ton of fertilizer mixed in this 
way what is the percentage of each element of plant food? 

Process : To find this percentage divide each element 
by the total amount of the mixture. The calculation is as 
follows : 

Phosphoric acid 178 -^ 2000 := 8.9 per cent. Phosphoric Acid. 
Nitrogen 28^-2000=1.4 per cent. Nitrogen. 
Potash 56 ^ 2000 = Potash. 



254 SOILS 

Working from percentages. — Often the per cent, of 
phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash suitable to a crop 
are given. In what quantities shall given fertilizing ma- 
terials be mixed so as to supply a fertilizer possessing 
these percentages? 

PROBLEM III : How^ many pounds each of acid 
phosphate, sulphate of ammonia, and kainit will be needed 
to make an 8 — 3 — 3 fertilizer? 

Process In loo pounds. In one ton 

Phosphoric acid 8 per cent 8 160 

Nitrogen 3 per cent 3 60 

Potash 3 per cent 3 60 

Acid phosphate — 14 per cent, or 14 pounds in 100. To 
get 160 pounds divide 160 by .14= i,i42-|-. 

Sulphate of ammonia — 20 per cent, or 20 pounds in 100. 
To get 60 pounds divide 60 by .20 = 300. 

Kainit — 12.5 per cent, or 12.5 pounds in 100. To get 
60 pounds, divide 60 by .125 = 480. 

We have now : 

Acid phosphate 1,142+ pounds 

Sulphate of ammonia 300 pounds 

Kainit 480 pounds 

Total 1,922 pounds 

Unfurnished 78 pounds 

2,000 pounds 

The remaining 78 pounds may be supplied in fine sand, 
road dust, or in any such material. 

If the reader considers his fertilizing problems in a 
careful way as suggested here, he will have no difficulty 
in mixing his own materials, and he will be pleased most 
certainly with the results. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

DAIRYING: AN EXAMPLE IN SOIL BUILDING 

Dairying- is one of the most effective practices in agri- 
culture for retainini^ and restoring- the fertility of the soil. 
A great array of facts are on record that prove that soils, 
devoted to dairying, may be as fertile after centuries of 
farming as they were in their original state. In Euro- 
pean countries, as well as in all parts of the United States, 
we find farms that once were abandoned because the soil 
fertility was exhausted: it did not pay to farm them. As 
a last resort, dairying was introduced and the fertility was 
restored completely. ]\Iany of these farms are even more 
fertile to-day than they were in the beginning, and so 
long as dairying is carried on, they will continue to in- 
crease in fertility and productive power. 

Grain farming exhausts the soil; dairying does not. — 
In grain farming the fertility is removed from the farm 
by selling the grain. According to Professor Woll of the 
Wisconsin Experiment Station approximately $8.35 
worth of fertility is removed from the soil with the sale of 
every ton of wheat. With every ton of corn that is sold 
approximately $6.50 worth of fertility is removed from 
the soil. 

But in the case of dairying — where butter is made on 
the farm and where all the by-products are fed to pigs 
and calves — we find that only 36 cents' worth of fertility 
is removed in each ton of butter produced. The commer- 
cial value of a ton of wheat at 75 cents per bushel is ap- 
proximately $24.75 ; l^^it the commercial value of a ton 
of butter at 25 cents per pound is $500. Hence, for 



DAIRYING 257 

each $100 worth of wlieat that is sold fn^in the soil 
$34.50 worth of fertility is removed from the farm, but 
for every $100 worth of l)utter that is sold, seven cents' 
worth of fertility only is removed. 

This vast difference between wheat and dairyinc^ is ex- 
plained in this way: a cow is fed a ration, say, of alfalfa 
and corn. Doth the alfalfa hay and the corn have been 
raised on the farm. AVhen consumed, the cow has assimi- 
lated approximately ten and one-half per cent, of the 
fertilizing elements. The remaining' eighty-nine and one- 
half per cent, go back to the soil in the shape of manure. 
Of the ten and one-half per cent, of fertilizing elements 
that are retained by the cow, about three-fourths go to 
make milk, and one-fourth to the maintenance of the 
body. 

In the case of butter made in the farm. The milk is 
separated : its analysis shows that ninety per cent, of the 
fertilizing elements of the whole milk is found in the skim 
milk ; hence, cream and butter remove but ten per cent, 
of the whole amount. But the skim milk is returned to 
the farm and is fed to ])igs and to calves, which utilize a 
part of these materials for building up the body : the un- 
used part passes on to fertilize the land. 

Dairying is a fat-making process. — It may be said that 
dairying is a sort of fat-concentration process. That is 
to say, the resultant product, which is butter fat, is dis- 
tilled from corn and alfalfa hay (and from all other ma- 
terials used as food) through the agency of the dairy cow, 
the cream separator, and the churn — by means of which 
the distilling process is carried on. 

Butter fat, from a chemical standj^oint, is a concen- 
trated form of heat. Tlie heat comes from the sun, in the 
first place. It is then taken up by growing plants — such 
as enter into feeding rations — and made into palatable 



258 SOILS 

products for the cow : made into products that satisfy 
hunger, and produce heat and fatty tissue in the body of 
the animal. Speaking strictly, this is one way by which 
man can sell concentrated heat for butter prices. Now, 
if the dairyman harvests hay and grain as feed and applies 
nothing whatever to the land to replace the fertility with- 
drawn, he will gradually reduce the fertility of the soil, 
but the process of tearing down will be slow. In twenty 
years a wheat farm may be worn out by continual crop- 
ping, but to wear out a dairy farm to an equal degree, 
9,720 years will need to pass. Wheat raising makes swift 
work in ruining lands, but dairying preserves them. 

Dairying remakes the soil. — A great source of profit in 
dairying lies in the fact that it remakes the soil. When 
you purchase feed for the cow that more milk may be 
produced, you add fertility to the land. Such feeds as 
linseed meal, cotton-seed meal, and bran are exception- 
ally rich in fertilizing elements. It is not unusual to pur- 
chase elements of fertility more cheaply in the form of 
feeds than in the form of fertilizers. And the feed is paid 
for by the milk. The milk pays also the labor and allows, 
in every case, where attention and care are given, a fair 
margin of profit. In this way the fertility of the soil is 
restored at practically no cost. 

While soil building can be accomplished by using other 
classes of animals, it is, however, a fact that the dairy cow 
produces more real fertility than any other farm animal. 
A cow weighing from twelve to thirteen hundred pounds, 
if fed to produce milk, during the year produces about 
twenty-eight hundred pounds of manure. Nearly one- 
half of this is liquid and should be saved, for it is exceed- 
ingly rich in fertilizing elements. But right here comes 
a great loss to the average farm. The liquid manure gets 
away from the land, which would not be the case were it 



DAIRYING 



259 



guarded as its importance merits. Li(iuid manure is 
even more valuable than the solid manure, and if proper 
arrangements are made, it will take care of itself, and will 
not only fertilize the soil to which it should be passed, 
but it may be used for irrigating the land at the same 
time. 

This can be done by means of a septic tank if the 
gutters in the stables are properly constructed so as to 
allow it to pass into the septic tank. When there, it fer- 




T/tT TO CMHY 



A COMPLETE IRRIGATING SYSTEM WITH DAIRY HOUSE AND RESIDENCE 
ATTACHED WITH THE SAME SYSTEM OF THE BARN 
Designed by Professor Oscar Erf 

ments and later is discharged through a system of tile 
drains, onto the land, where it becomes distributed into 
all parts of the soil. The solid manure can now be hauled 
onto other fields with half the labor that otherwise would 
be required, and all the fertilizing constituents in the 
manure can be completely recovered and restored to the 
soil. 

The loss of manure ought to be guarded against with 
zealous care ; certainly with as much as is given to guard- 



26o SOILS 

ing against the loss of any other farm product. For it must 
be borne in mind that the manurial value of feeds like 
bran, after it has passed through the cow, is worth $10.50 
per ton ; of red clover, under the same conditions, ap- 
proximately $7.30 per ton ; of linseed meal, $16.77 per 
ton ; and of cotton seed meal, $19.70 per ton. This bears 
out the statement made elsewhere, that the fertilizing ele- 
ments in manure are governed by the feeds that are fed 




A BALANCE WHEEL IN FARMING 

A grain crop makes swift work in ruining lands, but the dairy cow preserves 

them 

to the cow. Hence, rich feeds make rich manure : poor 
feeds, poor manure and little product. 

Dairying is behind rich lands. — Dairying sets in motion 
the processes that make rich lands : that make plant food 
available. Your land may contain an abundance of plant 
food, but it may be vmavailable as food. Dairying will 
set the strings going: it will produce the food for plants 
in a soluble way and in abundance. Suppose you are 
served a cup of tea. You taste of it and find it is not 
sweet ; but you are told that sugar has been added and 
you should stir the tea : it now becomes sweet. The 
sugar, in this case, remained at the bottom of the cup 



DAIRYING 261 

and was not available until thoroughly stirred and dis- 
solved ; until then there was little sweetening effect. 

So it is with soil fertility. Until it becomes soluble it 
is not food for plants. Manure has a disintegrating action 
on fertilizing compounds: it sets free the plant food. 

Dairying: a balance in fertility. — An illustration may 
now be in place to show the important role that dairying 
plays as a soil builder in the realm of agriculture. Let us 
assume that a man purchases a farm of one hundred acres 
for which he pays $100 per acre, the whole amounting 
to $10,000. In this case, he invests his money in soil 
fertility, from which he desires to draw interest just as 
he would were he to deposit his money in a bank. 

We will now assume that wheat is grown on the farm ; 
on the entire one hundred acres and for twenty years, 
the rate of production being sixteen bushels per acre, 
which, according to statistics, is a high average for 
twenty years of continual cropping on good soil without 
the addition of chemical or stable manures. At eighty 
cents per bushel, the entire production of wheat, at the 
end of twenty years, will amount to $25,000. 

P)Ut there is still another side: with each ton of wheat 
there goes $8.35 worth of fertility ; with the entire yield 
for the twenty years there goes $8,832 in fertility — leav- 
ing $1,168 only, out of the entire original investment. In- 
stead of simply drawing interest on the capital invested, 
there has been drawn nearly the entire capital. On 
the face of the purchase eighty-eight per cent, of the 
original investment has been withdrawn by twenty years 
of continual cropping. 

We now will assume, that instead of wheat alone, a 
dairy herd of fifteen cows is maintained in connection 
with wheat farming; that all the grain fed to the cows 
is purchased ; and that the manure is carefully pre- 



262 



SOILS 



served. It has been determined that a cow produces four- 
teen tons of manure per year ; but since there is always 
some waste, we will say that ten tons only are recovered, 
each ton of which is worth $2.95 per ton, as actual crop- 
producing experiments have shown to be the case. On 
this basis of valuation, the fertility from the fifteen cows 
will be worth, annually, $442.50, or $8,850 for a twenty- 
year period. 

Besides the value of the fertility, there is to be added 
to the gross receipts of the farm $18,720, received from 







TWO KINDS OF FARMING 

Grain farming forces plant food from the soil, but the dairy cow maintains the 
fertility of the land 



the sale of butter fat, and $3,600, the value of the skim 
milk ; and these have paid for feed, and labor, and some 
is left for profit. If the manure has been cared for and 
distributed properly over the soil, the fifteen cows in 
twenty years have replaced the $8,850 worth of soil fer- 
tility that was removed from the soil by the twenty crops 
of wheat. Hence, fifteen cows are able to balance the soil 
fertility that is removed in growing one hundred acres of 
wheat. 

Combined with dairying, wheat growing can he carried 
on indefinitely, without the loss of fertility. In other 
words, interest and not capital is withdrawn in this farm- 



DAIRYING 263 

ing operation. Consequently, the full crop-producing 
power is maintained and an increase of $18 in plant 
food is added to the soil. If twenty cows are kept 
on this land, the croj^-producing power of the soil will be 
improved to the extent of $3,000. Therefore, the farm 
daily grows in value : it adds quite a little to the capital 
invested in the plant. 

And in this connection a word about the saving of this 
dairy-made manure is not out of place. For our illustra- 
tion means that every form of manure produced on the 



WHEAT 
CORN I 
TIMOTHY I 
COTTON I 
MILK 
BUTTER ■ 

REL.ATIVE AMOUNTS OF PLANT FOOD REMOVED WHEN A TON OF EACH 
PRODUCT IS SOLD FROM THE FARM 

farm must be well preserved, if the fertility of wheat 
lands — or of any kind, for that matter — is to be main- 
tained. 

Waste in the wash of manure. — At the Ohio Experi- 
ment Station this test was made and reported by Director 
Thorne : manure was taken directly from the stable in 
April and applied to land about to be plowed for corn, the 
corn being followed by wheat and clover in rotation with- 
out further. manuring or fertilizing, and compared with 
manure produced by the same animals and applied in the 
same quantity and manner and at the same time, but 
which had lain in an open barnyard through the winter. 



264 SOILS 

The experiments show a loss of twenty per cent, of the 
total weight of the manure between January and April. 
The loss in effectiveness is indicated by the fact that the 
ton of fresh manure produced an average increase in the 
three crops of the rotation to the value of $2.94, while 
that from the same original quantity of manure, after 
lying four or five months in the barnyard, amounted to 
but $1.70, a loss of more than forty per cent. 

Chemical analyses made in January and April show that 
the manure lost between these dates was twenty-two per 
cent, of its total phosphorus, nearly fifty per cent, of its 
total potassium, and more than forty per cent, of its total 
nitrogen ; but when the water soluble constituents are de- 
termined, it was found that, while the loss of phosphorus 
retained practically the same proportion, that of potas- 
sium amounted to fifty-four per cent, and that of nitrogen 
to seventy-three per cent. 

Losses occur at all times during the year. — It will be 
observed that these experiments show only the losses that 
may occur in exposed manure during a few months of 
the winter, and it is probable that manure does lose in 
value more rapidly during the first few months than later 
on, through the leaching out of the liquid, and of the 
more soluble portions of the solid manure ; but these 
losses do not stop with the winter season, nor are they 
confined to leaching; but with warmer weather fermenta- 
tion becomes more active, and fermentation means not 
only the combination of the nitrogen of the manure with 
hydrogen and its escape as ammonia gas, but also the 
conversion of the ash elements into more soluble forms, 
in which they may be more readily leached out by sub- 
sequent rains. The mere loss of total weight, however, is 
not a safe guide as to the actual loss which may occur in 
the manure heap. In its fresh condition a lot of manure 



DAIRYING 265 

with the usual amount of bedding will be alxnit three- 
fourths water; but as the straw decays and the manure 
becomes finer its water-holding power increases. Thus, 
at the Ohio Station, a lot of manure contained in January 
seventy-seven and five-tenths per cent, water and nine- 
teen and six-tenths per cent, organic matter; in April, 
eighty-one and seven-tenths i)er cent, water and fifteen 
and nine-tenths per cent, organic matter; and in Septem- 
ber, eighty-three per cent, water and thirteen and seven- 
tenths per cent, organic matter. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

ROTATION OF CROPS 

"No branch of husbandry requires more sagacity and 
skill than a proper rotation of crops, so as to keep the 
ground always in heart, and yet to draw from it the 
greatest possible profit" : so wrote Lord Karnes a great 




CROP ROTATION 
The wisest plan for the maintenance of fertility 

many years ago. And with every form of scientific in- 
vestigation, with all improvements in agriculture — im- 
proved soils, better bred plants, more perfected tools of 
tillage, cultivation, and harvesting — there has come into 
use no method that contributes quite so much as a wise, 
well-systematized scheme of crop rotation to the mainte- 



ROTATION OF CROPS 



267 




AN EXAMPLE OF CROP ROTATION. CORN IN THE GROWING STAGE 

In the upper picture only corn has been grown while in the bottom clover has 
been grown also 



268 



SOILS 




AN EXAMPLE OF CROP ROTATION AT HARVEST TIME 

The upper picture shows the result when corn only was grown for 28 years. 
The lower picture shows the result when corn and clover were rotated for 
28 years 



ROTATION OF CROPS 269 

nance of fertility and to the production of maximum and 
profitable crops. 

It is Nature's plan : she favors i^iving crops fresh lands 
to grow in. Note the forest : when trees are cut, new and 
different kinds grow in place of those removed. Note the 
grass : timothy and clover may grow abundantly, but in 
the end Bermuda (in the South) and blue grass drive both 
away. Note the cultivated crop : corn does better after 
clover or alfalfa, wheat after corn or potatoes, cotton after 
cow peas or grass, than either crop after its own kind. 

A soil is severely injured when a cultivated crop like 
corn or cotton is grown on it year after year. Even wheat 
or oats, timothy or cow peas (when cultivated) bring 
about the same ill-effect. The humus is burned out, the 
soil hardens and deadens, the elements of plant food, 
especially needed for these special crops, become scant. 
Hence, the soil loses its power to successfully produce 
the constant crop. You can correct this trouble, to a great 
extent, by a change of crops. 

A few principles that enter into the scheme of crop 
succession are : 

Plants place their roots differently in the soil. 

All plants exhaust the soil. 

Plants do not exhaust the soil in the same manner. 

All plants do not exhaust the soil equally. 

Some plants add nitrogen to the soil. 

Some plants act favorably to weed growth while others 
do not. 

Plants, grown constantly on the same land, favor the 
spread of insects and diseases. 

Feeding habits of the crop. — It is well to pay attention 
to the feeding habits of a crop. The shallow feeder ought 
not to follow a crop having a similar nature : it ought to 
follow a crop whose roots penetrate deeply into the 



270 



SOILS 



ground. Thus corn, a relatively shallow feeder, should 
follow clover, a deep penetrator, or some crop like it that 
sends its roots down deep into the soil. This plan gives 
the deep grower an opportunity to strike deeply into the 
soil : to open the tightly bound subsoil, that air and water 
may get in to release plant food and to hand it over to 
succeeding crops. For this reason land 
seeded to a crop like clover makes fine 
wheat, corn or cotton the next season. 

Study the feeding habits of plants, 
then. Study their roots : learn where 
they grow, how deep they go. Do they 
plunge deep into the soil? or do they 
skim along in the surface layer near to 

Pfr^B^^s air and light? Ask these questions and 

-II'^^^S investigate. The knowledge is practical ; 
it is light upon a basic principle of suc- 
cessful farming; and in the future the 
root systems of cultivated crops will get 
more attention and study than the past 
has allotted to them. 

Plants vary as to taste. — There is a 
wide range in kinds of foods that plants 
fancy. For instance, the potato relishes 
potassium in abundance ; corn and wheat 
do best when a great deal of nitrogen is 
in the soil ; all grain crops must have 
much phosphorus and potassium to make 
well-filled heads. So crop rotation enables each crop to 
find its favorite dish. All of the legumes get their nitro- 
gen from the air ; they also send their roots down into the 
subsoil, where the mineral elements are, and these the 
roots gather up and bring nearer to the top. The crops 
then are harvested just in time for other crops; for in- 




cow i'i;a 

ROOTS 

They secure ni- 
trogen, and 
at the same 
time subsoil 
the land 



ROTATION OF CROPS 2/1 

stance, wheat if in the fall and corn if in the spring. 
Every crop that follows a legume likes the nitrogen that 
has been stored in the soil by it. It likes, too, the stubble 
and roots that were plowed under for the humus and for 
food they provide. It matters not the kind of crop: it is 
benefited by the legume, for little nitrogen was used and 
the roots fed and grew in a different layer of the soil than 
their predecessors. If corn or wheat is sown, some other 
crop can follow it; it can be the same or a different 
legume again, or it can be cotton (if in the cotton belt) or 
oats or alfalfa or potatoes: just whatever fits best into 
the scheme or what is most needed for your style of 
farming. 

When you give consideration to each crop in this way, 
you help both the crop and yourself; you help the crop 
by allowing it the kind of food it likes best; you help 
yourself by getting more prol^t from the better yield 
secured. And this is good farming: to study your crop 
and to get its confidence. 

All plants exhaust the soil. — Since plants exhaust the 
soil, it is evident that continuous cropping with no com- 
mensurate returns leads to a depleted condition of the 
soil. The mineral elements, you know, come from the 
soil and from the soil only. 

Continuous cropping — the same crop year after year — 
calls for certain elements constantly : but it is a very 
tiresome affair. Of course, if the supply be maintained, 
or if there be an inexhaustible supply of mineral elements 
in the soil that never lose their availability and never 
become carried away by drainage waters, and never get 
locked into insoluble chemical compounds, and if humus 
(the very life of the soil) be not burned out, then it may 
not be necessary to rotate crops. 

But the case is otherwise, as New England well knows; 




0) 1) 



W "S m 



ROTATION OF CROPS 273 

as the South with her depleted cotton and tobacco hinds 
testifies; as the West learns as the wheat field moves still 
farther West, depleting the land as it goes, finally to 
forsake it and to leave its rescue to clover and dairying 
and diversified farming. 

And so it is throughout the world : the progress of 
vegetation tends constantly to impoverish the soil, unless 
crop rotation is permitted to adjust the unhappy condi- 
tion. Where crop rotation is practiced, the demand on a 
particular element is met with a less demand by a dififer- 
ent crop. For example, alfalfa gets its nitrogen from the 
air, but feeds heavily on potash : and corn, coming after 
alfalfa, feeds largely on nitrogen which has been accumu- 
lated in the soil during the growth of the alfalfa; but the 
potassium which alfalfa largely uses is less in demand by 
the corn plant, and hence there is a readjustment by the 
rotation : a readjustment such as Nature can handle 
without denying any element to any crop. 

All plants do not exhaust the soil equally.— And so we 
get this principle : all plants do exhaust the soil, but they 
do not do it equally. Thus some plants get their nitrogen 
from the soil only, others get it from the air. Some plants, 
like potatoes, use a great deal of potassium ; and others, 
like corn, a less amount. Our grain crops use a great deal 
of phosphorus, a great deal more than the potatoes or the 
legumes. And so all along the line. While this range is 
not so great as one might think, still, it is sufficiently large 
to make one-crop farming a barbarous treatment to the 
land. 

In this connection it should be said that a wisely- 
planned crop rotation includes a legume somewhere in the 
scheme, that the nitrogen supply may be maintained with 
no shortage at all. 

Take the practice that is getting into favor so generally : 



274 



SOILS 



the planting of cow peas at the last cultivation of corn. 
At such a time and in such a place in the rotation peas 
can be planted without additional expense in labor or 
team employment ; the peas grow abundantly, make for- 
age for live stock, and add nitrogen to the soil. When 
matured, the peas may be gathered for seed or feed or 
they may be left on the land. 

In North Carolina a crop of corn on poor land yielded 
thirty-eight bushels of shelled corn per acre, and from 
a planting of cow peas at the last cultivation twelve bush- 
els of cow peas were picked, worth, at current prices, 
$1.50 per bushel. Besides the yield of corn, there was 
secured also a pea crop worth, at the lowest figure, 
$18 per acre. When the peas are allowed to die on 
the land, the stores of nitrogen that are put into the soil 
by growing this wonderful crop become very large in a 
very few years. It should be your aim and your purpose, 
therefore, to include in the rotation some legume crop for 
the nitrogen it controls. 

Rotations are bad for weeds. — Then we should have the 
help of some good rotation for its effect in weed exter- 
mination. Weeds and good farming never go together. 
Crop rotation is one of the best weapons with which to 
fight weeds. There are certain crops that affect certain 
weeds differently, and different tillage tools incidental to 
their culture enter in. The grain crops allow certain kinds 
of weeds to flourish, since there is no intertillage to keep 
them down. Many rapid-growing crops shade the ground 
and make life such a struggle to certain weeds that they 
soon despair in the race and disappear. 

Elsewhere is stated a case where corn was grown, a 
yield of more than eighty bushels per acre of shelled corn 
being secured when weeds were kept out and frequent cul- 
tivation given the land. An adjoining plot of corn, where 



ROTATION OF CROPS 2/5 

weeds were permitted to g^row and no cultivation was 
given, gave a yield of but seventeen bushels of shelled 
corn per acre. Why this difference? The old explanation 
is: weeds must be kept away else they will get 
water and plant food that should go to the cultivated 
crop. 

And now we are told that weeds crowd the root terri- 
tory of the cultivated plant, and that they produce a toxic 
effect in the soil, both being especially distasteful or hate- 
ful to the more refined and delicate and tender crop. Be 
the cause of enmity between cultivated crops and weeds 
what it may, every bit of evidence points against any 
favor being shown weeds. The whole trend of effort is 
toward the banishment of weeds. 

Do plant roots throw off wastes? — A new theory has 
been advanced within the last two or three years, one 
that claims that all plants excrete waste products through 
their roots. According to it, no plant should be grown 
on a soil for any great length of time, else the plant 
excretions will accumulate in the soil faster than the soil 
can rid itself of them. Time is needed for making away 
with the excretions of the old plant or crop. When this 
is done, the soil is made more sanitary and more congenial 
to the new crop. 

In this connection, then, a manure or fertilizer or other 
material that helps the soil is used, not because it supplies 
plant food, but because it assists in renovating the soil of 
waste products and in securing a more sanitary condition 
of the soil. Hence, fertilizers and manures become soil 
helpers by renovating and removing the excreta of the 
previously grown crop. 

Now, it does not make much difference in just what 
direction you must go for the true explanation of poor 
soils; but whether you take one or the other, you find 



276 SOILS 

good soils closely linked with good rotations and poor 
soils with poor rotations or a single crop. 

Getting rid of insects and diseases. — Still another 
reason for crop rotation is to keep the land rid of insects 
and diseases. Grow a crop year after year on the same 
land and you allow insects and diseases to accumulate and 
spread. Rotate crops, on the other hand, and insect or 
disease gains little headway, or disappears altogether. 

The right treatment of disease and of insect lies in a 
close crop rotation. Follow it and neither fungus nor in- 
sect can destroy your crop; follow it and your reward 
will be found in a plenteous harvest. 

Rotations may vary with different fields. — You may be 
able to plan a rotation that will serve for all of your 
fields ; many farmers are able to do so. Still, such prac- 
tice is not essential, and it may be wiser to adopt many 
rotations — one for each type of land. If you have hill land 
as a part of your farm, get a rotation that suits such 
land ; get another rotation that suits your bottom land. 
Make your rotations bend to the needs of your land and 
to your returns rather than allow either to bend to the 
rotation that may be fast bound, provincial and stupid 
when applied to your entire holdings. I know a field that 
has been given to a short rotation in which corn is grown 
every other year, and this field is more productive than 
it was fifty years ago. Clover and manure have been the 
treatment needed for the work. Yet it has been shown 
by actual field practice on the same farm that a different 
rotation, although clover and manure are both used, is 
necessary for other fields. 

And so it goes. You may like a certain field for pasture 
because of water, shade or other advantage ; and if so, get 
a rotation that admits a long pasture period and short 
periods for corn or wheat or cotton or clover or other 



ROTATION OF CROPS 



277 



crop. If you have a field especially adapted to your 
money crop, use the field for the purpose, but adjust it to 
a rotation that maintains the fertility — that even 
increases it. 

In the rotation when to apply barnyard manure. — Some 
prefer barnyard manure for the leading money crop, and 
that is good practice. But other things may enter into 
the problem. Where much barnyard manure is made, 
and where a pasture or grass crop precedes some money 
crop, like corn or cotton, it is well to apply manure to 




CROP ROTATION AND MIXED FARMING GO HAND IN HAND 



the pasture land, spreading as made and applied. This 
is the easiest way of handling the manure also. Every 
season of the year finds the pasture ready, and not only 
is the pasture improved, but the money crop following it 
gets its full value just the same. 

A good many years ago Yeddes wrote : "A pasture 
treated in winter to raw, unfermented manure will be so 
strong in grass, and the soil will become so rich, that, 
whether plowed the following spring for wheat or after 




ai ^ 



ROTATION OF CROPS 279 

being one year grazed and then put to corn, the maximum 
yield may be reasonably expected. This winter manuring 
costs the least of all methods, and probably saves the 
most of the value of the manure of any known to 
me." 

Crop rotation and mixed farming go hand in hand. — 
There are kinds of farming where mixed farming is not 
practical, trucking and market gardening being examples 
of farming systems that are not concerned with live stock 
and, hence, with crop rotation except to a limited extent 
only. Then, too, there are sections where the plow cannot 
be used at all. And so these lands may be given over to 
trees and to pasture. But the greater part of the country 
IS adapted to the production of a great variety of crops, 
and to the support at the same time of large numbers of 
live stock. Wherever the latter conditions prevail, the 
land, if otherwise treated properly, will maintain its fer- 
tility and continue the production of remunerative crops. 

These things being true, it follows that live stock and 
mixed farming should not be disconnected from special 
lines of farming. The cotton farmer needs cattle and 
sheep and hogs to consume his cow-pea forage, his clover 
forage and his corn forage that were produced as a part 
of the crop system to maintain the cotton lands. The 
wheat farmer needs live stock for a proper utilization of 
straw and clover and alfalfa, that are a part of good wheat 
farming. The corn farmer needs hogs and cattle to con- 
sume grain and stover and the rotation crops, that his 
lands may remain fertile and his farming plant made 
better. Humus and manure must be had. They may 
come from green crops or from city stables, but their use 
must never be ignored, else the time will come suddenly 
when neither chemicals nor tillage will avail and when 
the land will be thrown back on Nature for restoration 



28o SOILS 

and for a renewal of life. Then crop rotation is renewed, 
diversified farming follows, and the land becomes fertile 
and productive again. 

Some well-tried rotations. — There ought to be many 
kinds of rotations, for rotations ought to suit the farmer, 
the farm, and the district. Hence, no tight-bound rules 
should prevail at any discussion of this subject. 

In suggesting a few rotations, it is for the purpose of 
suggesting that they be modified to suit individual con- 




TIMOTIIY MAY GO IN ROTATION 

But then a good deal of plant food is removed, and the food value is below 
either clover or alfalfa 



ditions as nearly as possible, but, above all, for the rota- 
tion you ought to keep in mind these things : 

There is to be a money crop. 

There is to be a cultivated crop. 

There is to be one or more legume crops. 

There is to be live-stock feeding crop. 

Rotations planned on these principles are certain to 
secure the most satisfactory results only. Take this old 
rotation — wheat, clover, potatoes. Here is what you 
have : Two money crops — wheat and potatoes ; a culti- 
vated crop — potatoes; a legume crop — clover; and two 
live-stock crops — wheat, straw, and clover. 



ROTATTON OF CROPS 



281 



Take this oUl rolalion — com, wheat, clover, p;ra.ss — a 
four-year rotation. It may be modified by beings in corn 
two years, or in wheat two years, or in grass for mowing 
or grazing two years. Still, it is the same; it meets the 
four conditions — money crops, the cultivated crop, the 
legume crop, and the live-stock crop. Why have you no 
plan in operation that secures to your land a change in 
crops? The power is in your hand ; who shall hinder you 
from using it? 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE OLD, WORN-OUT SOILS: WHAT MAY WE DO FOR 

THEM 

Maybe some of your tillable land is unproductive; it 
does not give you good crops : it often fails in rewarding 
you with returns commensurate with the labor and ex- 
pense you have bestowed upon it. You may be dejected 
and despondent over the outlook. You wonder does it 
pay, and the question comes, the same one again and 
again, What may I do to change this state of affairs? 
How may I restore these lands, now so unresponsive and 
so unattractive, to their old positions for doing things — of 
raising crops that shall be worth the effort, the labor, and 
the expense? 

Just take comfort in this : you are not alone in your 
troubles ; your difficulties are not visited upon you only ; 
your lands are not the sole examples of their kind, requir- 
ing much and returning little. All over the country their 
like exists — worn out, depleted, exhausted, almost dead. 

But here is the comfort: These soils possess possibili- 
ties and may be restored to high productive power, pro- 
vided you do a few simple things. You will be rewarded 
most richly if you do these : 

1. Improve the physical life of the soil. 

2. Call tillage into service. 

3. Get humus into the soil. 

4. Keep live stock from tramping and injuring wet 
lands. 

5. Come into close contact with every sort of manure. 

6. Grow legumes constantly. 



THE OLD, WORN-OUT SOILS 



283 



7. Let g^rccn manures hcl]i. 

8. Rotate crops on the land. 

Improving the physical condition the first step. — You 
will make no mistake in giving- prominence to the physical 
improvement of the soils. It is the first step needed in 
the work of rejuvenation. A soil offers little when its 









IN PERFECT CONDITION 

The seed-bed has been made well and the mulch is holding the water for the 

crop 



physical life is at a low ebb. A plant can give you but 
a small harvest if its soil home is distasteful to it. Just 
remember these two facts. It may be you will find your 
whole trouble located here. Banish the trouble and your 
question may be answered, your problem may be solved. 
I have suggested heretofore what may be done in help- 
ing these old, depleted lands. It rests with you to diag- 



284 SOILS 

nose the cases as they come up and to prescribe the 
remedy. If they require drainage, it is to your profit to 
drain them. It is likely that nothing else will avail. 
Certainly, stiff, wet soils are useless to you for many 
kinds of crop. You gain nothing by postponement — you 
lessen your income only. If any of your soils are sour, 
then sweeten them with lime, and put them in fit 
condition for plants that would do their best if their 
home environments were only such that they might 
do so. 

Call tillage into use. — You should be thinking of tillage 
much of the time. It should occupy a large place in your 
thoughts. It should be a sort of human connection with 
the soil. 

Here is an old story : 

Once upon a time an old man who was dying called his 
sons to his bedside and told them in whispers that in 
the garden a treasure was hidden which, if they would 
dig diligently, they would find. The sons could hardly 
wait to bury their dead father before thud, thud, thud, 
their picks were going in the garden. Day after day 
they dug ; they dug deep ; they dug wide. Yet of treasure 
of silver or gold found they none as they feverishly 
searched. But still no treasure was found. 

"Our father has deceived us," one said. 

"Let us not lose every bit of our labor; let us plant this 
pick-scarred garden," said the eldest. 

So the garden was planted, and in the fullness of time 
the earth yielded up her increase ; and when it was seen 
how wondrously bountiful was the harvest — and so unex- 
pected — the father's meaning dawned upon them. 
"Truly," they said, "a treasure was hidden there. Let us 
seek it in all our fields." 

The story applies to-day as it did when it was first told. 



THE OLD, WORN-OUT SOILS 



285 



Deep breaking of the soil, fre(|ucnt and intelligent til- 
lage — these are the foundations of soil restoration. 

Do you send your plow deep into the soil? Pcrhajis 
deep tillage is the sort of medicine your land needs. If 
you have been accustomed to plow shallow, just try this 
plan : the next time you plow, set your plow in such a 
way that it will go deeper into the soil — at least two 
inches. And the next time go two inches more ; and con- 
tinue to do this until you get a plowed body of land at 




VVH.-\T HUMUS DOES IN THE SOIL 



least nine or ten inches deep. You better do this work 
gradually, for you might injure your land by turning 
to the surface a quantity too great to be purified and 
aerated in a single season. Combine with this good plow- 
ing the most thorough sort of culture ; use every sort 
of preparation tool that is needed to secure good tilth and 
a good seed-bed. Thomas Tusser long ago expressed the 
meaning in a quaint couplet: 

Good tilth brings seeds, 
III tilth, weeds. 



286 SOILS 

Soils that are plowed deep never wash away ; gullies 
and ditches seldom wrinkle and disfigure where the plow 
is intelligently used. 

Get humus into the soil. — Another step in soil improve- 
ment is taken when humus is got into the soil. You can 
never farm successfully without the co-operation of 
humus, for it is the backbone and the life of the soil. 

You have many ways of securing humus, but stable 
manure is best. It ofifers a big opportunity in this direc- 
tion. It even comes to your very door. I doubt if you use 
it to the very best advantage, so few of us do. 

The old saying that runs, 

No grass, no cattle; 
No cattle, no manure; 
No manure, no grass. 

applies to every American farm to-day. The cry of a 
great majority of farms is for more manure and for better 
preserved manure, that shall be applied to the soil more 
intelligently and more thoughtfully than is now the case. 

In some parts of the country stable manure is never 
used ; it rots and ferments and finds its way into the air 
and streams to be lost forever to the soil and world. And 
what a loss of wealth ! Just bear in mind that a day of 
reckoning will come, and if you have been guilty, either 
you or your children will have the penalty to pay. No 
plea will protect and none will save. Rob the soil of the 
humus already contained in it. deny admission to the 
humus rightly belonging there, and the earth will become 
sullen, stubborn, unkind ; it will be unproductive ; it will 
refuse to yield forth its income. 

Live stock tramps the land and injures. — A great injury 
is done every soil when live stock is given liberty and 
freedom over it, and especially when fall and winter and 



THE OLD, WORN-OUT SOILS 287 

spring are on with their wetness and cold. Cattle tramp 
the land. They crush the soil particles together, drive 
the air away, induce the formation of clods and holes ; 
they deaden the soil ; they drive life away. Why allow 
such treatment anyway? Is it necessary? IMust cattle 
be given dominion over the entire farm? Certainly not. 
Cattle have no place in fields, cultivated or grass lands 
during the winter months. Their place is in stables, or in 
barnyards, or in feeding lots, but not in the fields. 

Never neglect a manure of any sort. — You should never 
neglect a manure of any kind. Surely not the home-made 
sort. Make a lot of manure on 3'our farm. Get cattle ; 
get all kinds of live stock. Sell your crops through them. 
Never go to a single line in crop production. It means 
inefficiency ; it means soil depletion ; it means a worn-out 
farm. 

Study these problems of soil 'nuilding. Ascertain if 
your land is lacking any special element. If you are con- 
vinced that such is the case, then purchase the needed 
element and add it to your land. With a small efTort in 
the line of experimentation given you may learn some 
valuable lessons that may produce wonderful results. 

Grow legumes constantly. — Nothing helps old, worn- 
out soils more than the legumes. They give nitrogen and 
humus, and they open the subsoil to air and water. 
Clover and cow peas come first. Either one or the other 
will grow in your climate and fit into your work. Take 
the cow pea, for instance. It is an admirable plant for 
a depleted soil. Though poor tillage be provided, though 
the soil be hard and dead, the cow pea will respond with 
a luxurious crop. Look into the soil and you will find 
the evidences of the little fairies that did the work — the 
bacteria and their tubercle homes — gathering nitrogen for 
the plant and leaving what was unused in the soil for the 



288 



SOILS 



following crop. But this first cow-pea crop may not be 
what you like to see ; it may lack vigor and aggressive- 
ness. But just wait, and the next year repeat the work — 
use the same crop over again. Now you will see a differ- 
ence, for the bacteria have increased sufficiently to meet 
all the demands. Now you get your reward ! Xow you 
become a friend of the cow pea ! And the same is true 
of all other legumes — of the clovers, of the soy bean, of 
the vetches, of the alfalfa. 

You should use these legumes in ever\- kind of rota- 
tion — a legume ever}- year if possible, and cow peas in 




GROW LEGUMES C0NS7ANTLV 



ever\- crop of corn, using the last cultivation of the crop 
as the seeding time for the cow peas. This is a practical 
way to do this, so practical that thousands of farmers in 
all parts of the countr\- have adopted it. The author 
harv'ested thirty-six bushels of corn and twelve bushels 
of cow peas from a field a few years before abandoned 
and forsaken because of its worn-out condition, which has 



THE OLD, WORN-OUT SOILS 289 

been restored to high productive powers in just the way 
herein described. 

Let green manures help, — Some soils are so completely 
devoid of humus it often is best to center the first effort 
in humus supply to them. This may be done by the use 
of green manures. You may have to pick your crop. For 
the reason the soil is so poor it may refuse to do much. 
You had better use the cow pea for this purpose. It seldom 
will fail. Use a bushel of seed per acre, applying them 
broadcast. When mature, plow under, turning the soil 
an inch or two deeper than the previous preparation. The 
following season either disk the land or replow and sow 
the second crop of cow peas, using the same quantity per 
acre and seeding broadcast. 

This second crop will tempt you greatly ; you will be 
inclined to harvest it as hay. But it will pay you to re- 
main firm to your original resolution ; let it mature and 
be plowed into the soil, where it is needed for the nitrogen 
it holds and for the humus locked in its rich tissues. 

The old soils deficient in fertility it will pay you to 
assist. Help the soil and crop through an application of 
fertilizers. Something like this will do: Mix acid phos- 
phate and kainit together — 1,500 pounds of the former and 
500 pounds of the latter. Of this mixture use from 200 
to 400 pounds per acre, depending upon the productive 
power of the soil. With this treatment given, your old 
soils will soon be on the way of recovery ; they soon will 
be available for all sorts of crops. 

Rotate crops on these lands. — Now, do not neglect crop 
rotation. Remember that this neglect in the past was one 
of the reasons why your soils became worn out and ex- 
hausted — one reason why they became "run down." 
Surely you do not want this to happen a second time. 
Crop rotation will largely help in preventing such a con- 



290 SOILS 

dition. It matters not what money crops you grow, give 
your soil a change. Introduce legume crops frequently 
and constantly. They will keep nitrogen and humus in 
the soil ; they will keep the soil mellow and friable ; they 
will open the subsoil to other roots ; and they will save 
the land. 



CHAPTER XXX 

CONCLUSION: A BIT OF PHILOSOPHY 

\\"e have now followed the progress of soil building — 
followed it in history as men have labored and struggled 
to deduce fundamental principles and laws ; followed it 
from the time the earliest soil workers and soil makers 
began their work ; followed it as the elements of plant 
food are taken up and converted into luscious and nutri- 
tious food for animal and man ; followed it as the opera- 




: :- M IVKMIXG THAT IMPROVES THE LAND 

Let your farm be a factory, a farm-factory, where most of the crops raised 
shall be consumed as feed for live stock 



tions of tillage have gone on making the soil better and 
more productive ; followed it as the bacteria, the good 
fairies of the soil, have rendered plant food available and 
air nitrogen assimilable ; followed it as water is taken into 
the soil, and as it is removed by plant and by imperfect 
soil management ; followed it as sun and air and rain help 
or hurt ; followed it as every implement of tillage and 



292 SOILS 

culture, work and influence assist in the production 
of remunerative crops ; followed it as every resource is 
brought into use — the manures of the farm, the artificial 
plant foods of the commercial factory, the nitrogen of the 
leguminous plant; followed it as old lands are redeemed 
and restored to life and productivity; followed it as all 
agencies and factors that improve and maintain are set at 
work that the greatest good may result. 

And yet the true philosophy of farming and soil man- 
agement is expressed in the few simple words of Lock- 
hardt: "Good farming consists in taking large crops from 
the land, while at the same time you leave the soil in 
better condition for succeeding crops." 

The true philosophy of farming is correct handling of 
the soil that abundant vegetation may be produced. 

A story is related of a celebrated English general who 
had charge of his country's troops in a colonial land, and 
who was criticised for the attention he gave to the grow- 
ing of crops in that country. 

"General, it seems to the War Department that the 
thing that most concerns you is the growing of forage for 
bullocks." 

"Yes, sir," the general replied ; "that's the principal 
thing in carrying on a successful warfare in India or any 
other country. If we have the forage we shall have the 
bullocks ; if we have the bullocks we shall be able to 
support the men ; and if our men be well supported we 
shall have no trouble in conquering the enemy." 

The goal of soil treatment: better crops. — It is indeed 
a worthy goal that we have — to so treat and handle our 
soils that we may grow better crops ; to ally ourselves 
with the movement of increasing the food supply of the 
world; to join hands in the service, that higher living may 
be possible. Or to accept, in truth and in fact, as a part 



conclusion: a r.rr ok i-iiiLosornY 293 

of our efforts, the noble words of Jcthro Tull, the Father 
of Tillage: "Men of the greatest Learning have spent 
their Time in contriving Instruments to measure the im- 
mense Distance of the Stars, and in finding out the Di- 
mensions, and even Weight of the Planets : They think it 
more eligible to study the Art of plowing the Sea with 
Ships, than of tilling the Land with Ploughs, they bestow 
the utmost of their Skill, learnedly, to prevent the natural 
Use of all of the Elements of Destruction of their own 
Species, by the bloody Art of War. Some waste their 
whole Lives in studying how to arm Death with new 




A SURE WAY TO RUIN THE FARM 

It is impossible to estimate the enormous quantity of fertility that has been 
sent from American farms in baled bundles 

Engines of Horror, and inventing an infinite Variety of 
Slaughter; but think it beneath Men of Learning (who 
only are capable of doing it) to employ their learned 
Labours in the invention of new (or even improving the 
old) Instruments for increasing of llread." 

We must keep the fertility up : we must annihilate the 
soil robber. — Just go into any old section of the country — 
into New England, if you please. There you find many 
deserted homes and abandoned farms. Why? Because 
the fertility was sold and none replaced. It was sent away 



294 SOILS 

from the farms in bushel baskets, in baled bundles, in 
cotton sacks — by the pound, by the bushel, by the ton. 
Go into the South — into the land blessed in every way 
beyond measure. You find impoverished soils; you see 
worn-out fields, gullied and wrinkled and cast aside. The 
fat of the land was gathered up and shipped away in 
cotton, in tobacco, in corn, and none was returned to take 
its place. The humus was used up and burned by one- 
horse plows and shallow working tools and the land was 
bereft of its powers of high production. 

Go into any of the older portions of the country — go 
even into the West, into the newest settlements. You 
find depleted soils, lands robbed of fertility, farms render- 
ing their owners a bare existence. Why is this all so 
true? Because the soil robber in every instance had been 
present, and because of a compact with the fool the fer- 
tility has been taken away and the lands reduced to the 
lowest point of production. 

But the brighter side of the picture is coming into 
view ; we see the soil robber and the fool far in the dis- 
tance, disappearing ; we see the intelligent tiller of the 
soil in the foreground, already at work with vim and 
courage and determination, adding humus to the soil and 
restoring life to the land. And so every earnest husband- 
man can take courage, for the land is not lost to the wise 
farmer — either East or West, or North or South. For 
brains mixed with the soil and applied to intelligent 
culture will restore the land and save the nation. 

Diversify your crops: have many to support you. — It 
matters not what your line of farming — your specialty — 
may be, you must have the help of many crops. Is it 
wheat? You need clover and grasses for humus and 
nitrogen. Is it corn? You need animals to consume it 
that the manure may be returned to the land ; you need 



CONCLUSION : A BIT OF PHILOSOPHY 



295 



clover and alfalfa as preceding crops to corn. Is it cotton ? 
You need cow peas to subsoil the land, to get all humus 
that is needed, and to provide the costly nitrogen ; you 
need the clovers and the cereals to feed your work stock 
and to prevent the washing of the soils by the winter 
rains. Is it potatoes, or truck, or a cultivated crop of 




OATS POTATOES DAIRY COTTON 



SEVEN OF OUR LEADING PRODUCTS 

When sold off the farm just so much plant food is sent away. 'I'he relative 
proportions are shown above and apply to nitrogen, phosphorus and 
potassium in a ton of each product 



any kind? You need, just the same, cow peas and clover ; 
you need a variety of crops. 

All these things you need, not for the land's sake only, 
but you need them as agents in the support of your busi- 
ness ; you need them for the improvement of your farm- 
stead ; you need them as contributions in your welfare 
and happiness. 

Be a legume farmer: be up with the times. — In the old 
days legumes were appreciated, ])ut only slightly used. 
The up-to-date farmer, who prospers and improves his 
plant, is now a legume farmer. He uses one or more 
legume in every rotation to get all needed nitrogen, to 



296 



SOILS 



add to every nitrogen store, to get the best crops for 
feed, to get the best yields from other crops that follow. 
Do your work well: farm intensively. — Equally as bad 
as the soil robber is the soil killer — the man who kills and 
deadens the soil by ruthless methods ; who farms large 
areas by slashes and stabs ; who takes and never gives 
back to the soil ; who farms extensive areas but harvests 




INTENSIVE FARMING 

Good tillage, crop rotation and an abundance of humus are all back of this crop 



little yields. He is in New England, where his hay yields 
him a quarter to a half ton per acre ; he is in the South, 
where his quarter a bale per acre of cotton is produced 
at a loss ; he is in the West, where his corn is but "twenty" 
and his wheat but "thirteen" — and neither is grown at a 
profit. 

You cannot afiford to be classed with this tribe. Yours 
must be another caste if you bear any respect for your 
family or yourself. 

Take up the better way, the way of doing things right 
and square and manly. Farm wisely, that you may be 



conclusion: a rit of philosophy 297 

a man, a wise man at work with Nature, in sympathy 
with her laws and decrees. Take the sullen and stub- 
horn soil (rendered so by the bad treatment of your 
predecessor) and render it so gentle and pliable and re- 
sponsive that henceforth it will do your will. 

Eliminate hand work: use machinery, — The farmer 
enters into his own at the very moment he realizes that he 
ought to be educated ; when he uses his powers of thought 
to till his land and to grow his crops ; when he uses his 
muscles less and his brain more ; when he spares the 
physical body and crowds the tool or machine he has 
created. The effect of the elimination of hand labor and 
the use of muscle-saving machinery on the physical and 
mental man is soon apparent. Before the coming of ma- 
chinery this was true, as Edward Markham has said : 

Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox. 

He stands and leans on his hoe and gazes on the ground; 

The emptiness of the ages on his face, 

And on his back the burdens of the world. 

While now he rides and directs every sort of machine 
that is made to do his will, he fittingly represents his 
highest and loftiest mission. Now he stands as Henry 
Jerome Stockard sees him : 

Imperial man! co-worker with the wind 

And rain and light and heat and cold, and all 

The agencies of God to feed and clothe 

And render beautiful and glad the world! 

Foremost among the causes that has occasioned this 
change in physical and mental man, in adding ease, com- 
fort, and length of life, in making possible the nation's 
wealth and greatness, is the application of machinery to 
agriculture. 



298 



SOILS 



Consider for a moment the ancient man with his sickle 
in one of our Western wheat fields alongside a modern 
combined header and thresher, which takes twenty feet 
at a "through" and drops the grain off in sacks ; and im- 
agine, if you can, how many of these fellows with the 
sickle it would take to harvest our immense crops of 
60,000,000 acres of wheat. Put our ancient father with his 
crooked stick for a plow in one of these large wheat fields 
and count up, if you can, at some idle hour how many 
like him it would take to do the work of the man who 




A DEPARTMENT OF THE FARM-FACTORY 



to-day drives the modern steam gang-plow at the rate 
of ten miles per hour, taking twenty-four one-foot furrows 
at a "through." 

If we to-day used the old hand methods and produced 
our present food supply, fifty millions of people more would 
need to be added to our population, and all of us would 
be required in our agricultural fields, and even then we 
should need to eat sparingly and to fast often, else the 
day of little harvest might come and we perish alto- 
gether. 



CONCLUSION 



A BIT OF PHILOSOPHY 



299 



Feed your crops to live stock : make the farm a factory. 
— Let your farm he a factory, a farm-factory, where most 
of the crops raised sliall he consumed as feed for Hve 
stock, that finished jirochicts may be made and as such 
be sold, rather than as raw materials, in which form they 
were raised. Such a system of farmin^^ will lead to per- 
manent im]>rovement of the soil ; it will secure from it the 
highest efficiency. These things it means : that there 
shall be diversity in crops ; that more live stock shall be 




"thro' wood and mead" 



bred and fed on the factory-farm ; that the entire i)lant 
shall be managed as a business enterprise of the largest 
magnitude. 

Study your work and be a man. — Finally, your business 
opens widest the gates of opportunity for study and 
development and high living. 

The following words of Liberty Hyde Bailey, as beauti- 



300 SOILS 

fill as they are simple, as strong- as they are true, indicate 
the ideal of your regal pursuit: 

I teach 
The earth and soil 
To them that toil, 
The hill and fen 
To common men 

That live just here; 

The plants that grow, 
The winds that blow, 
The streams that run, 
In rain and sun 

Throughout the year; 

And then I lead 
Thro' wood and mead, 
Thro' mold and sod. 
Out unto God. 

With love and cheer, 

I teach. 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Acidity corrected 104 

(loti-ctoil 104 

Acid-made manures, when to use 75 

helps soil-making 9 

Air in soils 36 

Aluminum defined 61 

Analyses, early faith in 71 

average soils 66 

crops 80 

determine soil needs 71 

fail to determine fertility 72 

mechanical 30 

numerous, necessary 75 

should be extensive 75 

show condition of plant food.. 76 

subsoil 76 

typical soils 27 

value of 74 

Animals in soil-making 20, 21 

Barley, analyses of plant food 

80, 81 

Barn-yards, good and bad an 

rSerthelot 114 

IMood, dried 231 

Bone 235 

Boussingault 112 

Calcium defined 60 

Calcium in good supply 101 

Capacity of soils to hold water.. 42 

Carbon defined 56 

dioxide in soil-making 9, 10 

function of 56, 118 

secured by leaves 45 

where secured 45 

Cellulose defined 50 

Chlorine defined 58 

function of 58 

Circulation, air 36 

water 36 

Classification of soils 25 

Clay soil analysis 27 

soils modified 35 

Composition of plants 45 

of soils 23 

Conn quoted 139 

Corn, analyses of plant food.. 80, 81 

vs. dairying 263 

soil analysis 27 

yield in North Carolina 274 

Cotton 7>s. dairying 263 

Cotton-seed 'meal 232 

Crops, better 292 

demands for food 81 

diversifying 294 

for various soils 3 1 

Cultivation checks evaporation.. 167 



PAGE 

Cultivation, depth of 201 

destroys weeds 199 

saves water 172 

shallow and deep 20 1 

time for 203 

Cultivators, kinds of 199 

Culture, level 203 

Dairying, a balance in fertility. . 261 

and wheat compared 257 

enriches land 260 

makes fat 257 

remakes soil 258 

vs. grain 255 

Decay in soil-making 19 

Denitrification 123 

Disking, value of 180 

Ditch, digging the 162 

Drain, kind of 159 

Drainage, admits air 1 54 

objection to open 160 

outlet, protect 163 

tiles the perfect 161 

admits air 154 

assists manure 154 

assists tillage 156 

deepens soil 152 

function of 152 

lengthens season 156 

prevents drouth 157 

prevents washing 1 58 

sanitary effect of 159 

warms soil 155 

where not needed 159 

Drains, depth of 162 

distance between 161 

Drift soils 15 

Elements, constructive 118 

defined 52 

how used 53 

of plants 44 

Evaporation by sun and wind.. 166 

checked 167 

Farming, dry, defined 178 

Feeding habits of crop 269 

Fertility defined S 

keeping up 85, 293 

more than soil S 

not found by analysis 72 

Fertilizer, amount to use 251 

analyses 243 

percentages 254 

problems 252 

factory mixed 239 

home mixing 246 

test land for 249 

value of 241 

Field tests essential 78 



302 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Films, water 37, 38 

water, in soil 37 

Fish dried and ground 232 

Food, available, small 66 

forms of plant 64 

how used by plant 50 

increased 92 

supply large 87 

Frost in soil-making 11 

Glacier soils 15 

Grain I's. dairying 255 

Grass lands 28 

soil analysis 27 

Growth affected by soil 28 

Gypsum gg, 100 

Harrow, function of 192 

kinds of 193 

Hay vs. dairying 263 

Heat assists soil-making 10 

Hellriegel 109, 114, 139 

Humus affects water flow 40 

effect of decaying 95 

effect on soils 30 

holds plant food 66 

in soil, get 286 

Husbandry, horse-hoeing 90 

Hydrogen defined 54 

function of 55 

Ice helps soil-making 14 

Improvement, first steps in 283 

Inoculation by pure culture. . . . 149 

by soaking seed 148 

by soil 1 48 

essentials 151 

methods of 147 

what it means 144 

Intensive farming 296 

Iron defined 61 

Karnes quoted 266 

Kainit 237 

Laboratory defects 73 

Lawes & Gilbert 112, 137 

Leaves secure food 45 

wither to save water 50 

Legume farmer, be a 295 

function of 114 

grow constantly 287 

increase nitrogen Ss 

necessary in rotation 273 

secure nitrogen 136 

Liebig Ill, 112 

Lime affects soil particles 103 

applying 105 

corrects acidity 104 

function of loi 

gas I o I 

kinds used 99 

promotes good texture 102 

quantity to use 106 

Lime-spreader 106 

Liming 99 

when to practice 75 

Litmus 104 

Machinery preferred 297 

Magnesium defined 60 

Manure, accumulative effect of. . 225 



PAGE 

Manure, amount to apply 224 

Krf system of preserving 212 

green 289 

handling 217 

influenced by bedding 209 

influenced by feed 207 

influenced by stock 209 

in rotation 277 

large mound 219 

losses through year 264 

methods of applying 218 

never neglect 287 

objections to hand scattering... 219 

preservatives 214 

preserving 211 

small piles of 218 

solid and liquid 210 

spreader for 220 

waste and wash of 263 

water in 206 

when to apply 222 

where to apply 223 

Markham quoted 297 

Marl 99 

Metals of plant growth 58 

Mississippi action on soils 13 

Moisture in soil-making 10 

Molasses illustrates osmosis 47 

Mulching, benefits of 173 

Mulch, making effective 174 

Nature slow worker 90 

New Hampshire manure experi- 
ments 225 

Nitrification defined 126 

essential 128 

when favored 75 

Nitrogen defined SS 

fixation 109, 135, 140 

fixed in soil 135 

function of 56, 118, 227 

gathered by tubercles 137 

how lost 133 

increased by legumes 85 

losses of 122, 133 

more needed 136 

preventing losses of 134 

reclaiming 134 

secured by inoculation 150 

sources of 119, 230 

where secured 45 

North Carolina corn yield 274 

Oats, analyses of plant food. .80, 81 

Ohio station manure experiments 217 

manure experiments ..225, 263 

Organic matter modifies soils.... 35 

Osmosis defined 47 

Oxygen defined S3 

function of 54 

in soil-making 9 

where secured 45 

Packing, sub-surface 182 

Phosphorus defined 57 

function of 57> --8 

sources of 45> 233 

Potash defined 58 

function of 60 



INDEX 



303 



PAGE 

Potash, muriate 237 

office of 228 

sources of 236 

sulphate 237 

where secured..' 45 

Potassium, function of 228 

Plant composition 45 

food, available 67, 69 

food supply large 87 

food, unavailable 69 

Plants assist soil-making 19 

demands upon plant food 79 

exhaust soil 271 

in soil-making 17 

prefer certain soils 24 

prehistoric 18 

Plow, disk 191 

gang 191 

one-horse 189 

work it should do 186 

ancient and modern 185 

various 189 

Plowing, poor, example 188 

Pore-spaces in soil 37 

Production related to soil texture 87 

Protoplasm defined 50 

Roberts' manure experiments. . . 223 

Roller, function of 93 

Root, method of growth 41 

wastes 275 

depth of . 86 

in soil-making 21 

secure food 45 

Root-hairs, action 47 

function of 46 

Rotation, destroy weeds 274 

example for 50 years 82 

examples of 280 

for different fields 276 

manure in 277 

on worn land 289 

with mixed farming 279 

Running out of soils, the cause of 85 

Saltpeter 231 

Sandy soils modified 35 

Sap flow 47 

Shells 101 

Silicon defined 56 

function of 57 

Size of soil particles 24 

Snyder's manure experiments. . . 225 

Soda, nitrate 230 

Sodium defined 60 

function of 60 

Sourness in soils 104 

Spreader, manure 220 

Stables 213 

Stock, feed crops to 298 

injures soil 286 

Stubble, managing 179 

Subsoil defined 4 

differs from surface 76 

plant food from 86 

Sulphur defined 57 

function of 57 

Symbiosis defined 140 



PAGE 

Tankage 232 

Temperature helps soil-making.. 10 

Texture improved by lime 102 

improving 93 

may be modified 35 

Thome's manure experiments 

225, 263 

Tiles, advantages of 161 

the perfect drain 161 

Tillage benefits 92 

checks denitrification 124 

destroys weeds 97 

effect of 91, 92 

increases moisture 96 

increases plant food 94 

natural 88 

practising 284 

Tobacco soil analysis zy 

Tools, interculture 198 

preparation 192 

Transpiration 164 

Truck soil analysis 27 

Tubercles, root 114, 137 

Tull, J 90 

quoted 203 

Types of soil 26 

of soil, secondary 30 

Ville 114 

Voelcher 113 

Water, capillary 40 

capacity to hold 42 

conserving 205 

films 37, 38 

gravitational 40 

helps soil-making 12 

holding capacity of soils 42 

holding increased 96 

hygroscopic 40 

increased 196 

increased by compaction 196 

in soils, kinds of 40 

in soil-making 10, 12, 14 

lifts plant food 41 

passes through soil 38 

saved by leaves withering 50 

saved by tillage 167, 172 

saving 184 

saving means early work 204 

sorts soils 14 

three kinds in soil 40 

used up by weeds 199 

Weeds affect water content.... 199 
Wheat, analyses of plant food 

80, 81 

and dairying compared 257 

continuously grown 261 

lands 28 

soil analyses 27 

Wilfarth 109, 114, 139 

Wind helps soil-making 15 

\\'oll on dairying 255 

Work, eliminate hand 297 

Worn-out soils not exhausted. . 87 

Worms help soil-making 21 

Yeast action 144 

Yeddes, quoted iyy 



«:H^ ( 1907 



